


In Secret

by Star_Dust47



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Vampire Diaries - L. J. Smith
Genre: BAMF Bonnie Bennett, BAMF Caroline Forbes, BAMF Elena Gilbert, BAMF Rebekah Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes & Stefan Salvatore Friendship, Eventual Smut, F/M, Human Elena Gilbert, Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson, Klaus Mikaelson Has A Heart, Oblivious Elena Gilbert, Oblivious Finn Mikaelson, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Bonnie Bennett/Jeremy Gilbert, Past Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore, Past Relationship(s), Protective Elijah Mikaelson, Protective Klaus Mikaelson, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smut, Witch Bonnie Bennett
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:46:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25217239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Dust47/pseuds/Star_Dust47
Summary: So I originally started this on Wattpad and I decided to bring it here and re-write a few things since I have gotten better at writing since it was on Wattpad.--Elena Gilbert met Finn Mikaelson when she was 12 years old, it was the one moment in all the time that Finn had been held in the box that he managed to escape.   Sadly it was not very long and soon Klaus had him back in that box he so loathed.  What happens when Finn is released by Elijah Mikaelson and Damon Salvatore 6 years later...Pairing: Finn Mikaelson x Elena GilbertStatus: IncompleteAll rights to the CW Network and L.J. Smith
Relationships: Aurora de Martel/Klaus Mikaelson, Bonnie Bennett & Caroline Forbes & Elena Gilbert, Bonnie Bennett & Finn Mikaelson, Bonnie Bennett & Malachai "Kai" Parker, Bonnie Bennett/Elijah Mikaelson, Bonnie Bennett/Jeremy Gilbert, Bonnie Bennett/Lorenzo "Enzo" St. John, Caroline Forbes & Elena Gilbert & Rebekah Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes/Tyler Lockwood, Damon Salvatore & Stefan Salvatore, Davina Claire/Kol Mikaelson, Elena Gilbert & Finn Mikaelson, Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert/Finn Mikaelson, Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore, Elijah Mikaelson & Finn Mikaelson & Klaus Mikaelson & Kol Mikaelson & Rebekah Mikaelson, Elijah Mikaelson & Klaus Mikaelson, Elijah Mikaelson/Katherine Pierce, Finn Mikaelson & Freya Mikaelson, Finn Mikaelson/Sage, Hayley Marshall/Elijah Mikaelson, Hayley Marshall/Klaus Mikaelson, Jeremy Gilbert & Finn Mikaelson, Josette "Jo" Laughlin/Alaric Saltzman, Keelin Malraux/Freya Mikaelson, Klaus Mikaelson/Camille O'Connell, Marcel Gerard/Rebekah Mikaelson, Matt Donovan/Caroline Forbes, Matt Donovan/Elena Gilbert, Matt Donovan/Rebekah Mikaelson
Comments: 86
Kudos: 178





	1. What Happened That Summer

Finn looked down in horror at the camping party that now lay dead at his feet. Although in someway he had to blame Niklaus for this; if he had not spent half a century in a box he would not be nearly as hungry. Now Finn had to move before word got out that this crew was missing, and then his insane brother would be on him quicker than he could say 'Vervain'. 

So he compelled a flight attendant and he was on his way to America. Even though he was not quite sure where that was. Finn spent most of the flight looking at a map of the tiny town he was going to be hiding out in.

Mystic Falls was by no means special, but as he looked over it again and again, he felt like he was forgetting something. 

He sighed and leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes. Finn for a moment, wished that his family could be like other families. But knowing Niklaus and Kol he quickly abandoned that idea, and closed his eyes for his first peaceful rest in 850 years.

\--

It was two weeks later when he met her, and he would remember it vividly as time went on. 

Finn was trying out an animal blood diet that he discovered would be a whole lot less messy after he figured out there was a vampire hunting society called the "Founding Families" in town. This diet didn't give him as much strength as a human blood diet usually would, but it helped keep him off of the Founding Families' radar as well as his brother's. 

He had just finished off his third rabbit and had buried it when he heard a sniffle. Finn's head shot up and looked around but he didn't see anyone. He wiped the blood off his mouth and followed the noise. 

Soon he found himself in a meadow, surrounded by wild flowers and a few trees. By one of those trees he saw a small girl, no older than 12 sitting under one of those trees, her knees were brought up to her chest and her forehead rested on her kneecaps. 

"Are you alright?" He asked slowly, and the little girl's head snapped up to reveal red rimmed eyes.

She leapt up and ran over to him, hugging his waist . Finn was frozen in shock, this little girl was risking her life, but then again she did not know it.

"Thank you! Thank you!" She whispered excitedly.

"Excuse me..." He pulled her away from his waist and bent down so he was eye level with her. "Can I ask what you are doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" The little girl shakily nodded.

"Me and my friends were playing hide and seek out in the woods and Tyler found me so I ran away from him and somehow he started chasing after Matt and I didn't notice and now I have no idea where I am." She hiccuped.

"Alright and may I ask you what your name is?" He asked softly; letting her sit down in the flower infested grass.

"Mommy and daddy say I am not supposed to give my name to strangers." The little girl told him, her eyes focusing on the purple flower in front of her.

"Your parents are very smart." He told her as he sat down beside her, touching the blue flower beside him. "How about this?" He asked her after ten seconds of silence. "I tell you my name first and then I won't be a stranger anymore." 

He chuckled as her dark chocolate eyes lit up as he finished his sentence. Finn actually, truly, laughed for the first time since he was a child when her head began bobbing up and down so much that he thought her head would snap right off.

"I'm Finn Mikaelson." He held out his hand for the young girl to shake, which she did.

"I'm Elena Gilbert." She told him.

"Well Elena I have really good hearing, practically supernatural, and I can hear your friends calling for you." Elena looked around, her tiny eyebrows furrowing as she too tried to listen for what he was hearing. 

Finn stood up and held his hand out for the small child, who eagerly gripped it. They walked away from the meadow and Finn turned back to admire how beautiful it truly was. 

"So Finn?" Elena grabbed his attention once again. "Why are you all the way out here?" She looked up at him.

"I was out for a hike." He responded easily. "It helps me, I don't know, get away from all of my family drama."

"Oh!" She shot up over a rock. "I have family drama!" She told him excitedly.

"Oh really?" Finn responded, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah. Last summer some woman was staring at me from across the park when I was out with my family. Uncle John..." She made a face at her mention of him. "Had to go over and yell at her." Her eyebrows furrowed again. "I don't know what they were arguing about, but it was really big because later that night mom and dad were arguing with him too."

"Elena Gilbert, you are quickly becoming one of my favorite people." He told her as they walked through the woods.

The blinding smile she gave him was enough to make him, the world's worst vampire, smile too. They walked in silence for another minute and Elena began to fidget with the hem of her shirt and glancing at Finn.

"Yes Elena?" He chuckled at the little child.

"Well I was just wondering?" She asked nervously. "You said that you were escaping family drama as well..."

"Ahhh yes." He said, when she stared up at him for a long period of time, he decided to continue. "Well all you need to know is that my younger brother Niklaus has become obsessed with finding a cure for a certain...problem he has, and that has caused him to punished those closest to him, I was the first." Finn wasn't sure why he was telling this young girl everything, well a version of everything. "So when I had the opportunity to leave I took it and didn't look back."

"Finn." He looked down at Elena to see compassion flaming in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

He gave a tight lipped smile to her, which despite being only 12, she returned.

"Elena!" A woman's voice yelled.

"Mom!" Elena ran towards the other woman.

Finn saw many other people there, most of whom were children. It seemed like the only parents there were Elena's. The man, who Finn assumed was Elena's father, walked over to him.

"I found her in the woods." He told the man " She said she was playing with her friends and got lost, so I knew the way out and I helped her." 

The man nodded and Finn stuck out his hand.

"Finn Mikaelson sir."

"Grayson Gilbert." The man shook his hand. 

"Thank you very much for helping Elena Mr. Mikaelson." Elena's mother walked over to him.

"No problem, you two have a very extraordinary child there." He told them both and smiled at Elena who was already running around with her friends playing another game.

There was something about that girl that made Finn forget for a moment that he was a 900 year old vampire who hated the world and all who lived in it. Elena Gilbert was changing the man and she didn't even know it.

\--

As summer went on Elena found ways to talk to Finn, most of which involved her meeting him out by the wood line at the edge of the Lockwood estate.

Finn found himself opening up to the child mainly because she was that, a child, she didn't know of the horrors he had committed.

"I have a brother who would love you" He told her one day while she was playing with a caterpillar she had found.

"How many brothers do you have?" She asked.

"Well I am the oldest and then it would be Elijah, who I think would love you, and then there is Niklaus, and finally Kol." He told her, and smiled at her trying to process all that information. "I also have a sister named Rebekah who is almost the exact opposite of you."

"I want to meet them." She said, focusing back on the caterpillar.

"I hope you never do." He murmured.

"What?" Elena looked at him.

"I said they would love you." He faked a smile.

\--

Finn was walking through a bookstore trying to find something as a parting gift for the little girl who had quickly become his best friend. 

Word on the street was that Klaus had found where he went and would be here in 2 days. Finn didn't want to leave her, but maybe if he lured Klaus away he could return to her one day.

He picked up a green diary and began to flip through it, oddly enough it seemed perfect for Elena Gilbert.

"Hello Finn." A chilly voice said from behind him.

Finn froze with the book in his hand. He turned around to see his younger brother's chilling blue eyes.

"Niklaus." He answered.

"Put the green book down and follow me if you don't want to make a scene." His brother growled out.

Finn was about to protest when he saw Elena and her friends Bonnie and Caroline with Ice Cream across the street.

"Fine." He set the diary down and said good bye to the store owner.

When they got out of the store the one thing that Finn did not want to happen, happened/

"Finn!" The young girl called, and his head snapped back around to see Elena crossing the street to get over by them.

"Now who is this?" Klaus asked in a sinful tone.

Elena was about to answer when Finn cut her off.

"No one that is of any importance to you."

"Finn?" The little girl's eyes held confusion and fear.

He went to kneel down by her when Klaus gripped his arm.

"Let me say good bye and I will go with you back to that god forsaken box without a fight." He whispered in a huff to his little brother.

It worked though, because Klaus smiled and let go of his arm. Finn knelt down by Elena and placed his hand on her arm.

"I don't want you to worry about me okay Elena," he told her softly, the little girl's brown eyes trained on his. "I just need to finish up some stuff with my family okay?" Elena shook her head slowly. "I will see you again I promise." He swore to her, even though he would never follow through.

Elena stepped over and wrapped her small arms around his neck. Klaus locked eyes with Finn. and Finn was surprised to see the look of shock on his brother's face.

"Bye Finn, see you soon." Elena waved good bye to him and walked across the street to where her friends waited.

"So..." Finn stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Where do you want to do this?" He asked not taking is eyes off the three little girls.

"Here." He heard from his brother and then felt an intense pain in his chest and then he slowly drifted off into the darkness.


	2. He Would've Loved You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it is the first four or five chapters I wrote my senior year of high school, and I have evolved a lot in my writing since then. So these first few chapters are not as good as the chapters I will write after I run out of the old chapters. Which is why this one is so short, now I like to make sue my chapters have a minimum of 4,000 words.

As time went by Elena slowly stopped looking for Finn, figuring he moved on with his life and forgot about her. Life went on and soon Elena's world was much more complicated than she had ever expected.

Finn was lucky to get out when he did because if he had stayed he might be dead as well. Elena looked out the part of the window that wasn't covered by a piece of wood. She often wondered if he ever resolved his drama with his family. 

When Trevor began to get scared, that frightened Elena, here was a 500+ year old vampire that looked like he was ready to pee his pants like a scared toddler.

"What's her name?" A man's voice called and her head snapped up.

"Elena Gilbert." Rose told him.

"Elijah?" She whispered and all three heads snapped towards her.

"Did you...?" Elijah's voice rose a little as he glared at Rose and Trevor.

"No, we swear, we didn't tell her a thing!" Trevor's voice was high and fast pitched.

"Your last name is Mikaelson." She told him.

"How do you, a human, know oh so much about me?" Elijah asked casually, resting his arms on the banister.

"I know from...he's a vampire." The realization hit Elena smack dab in the face.

"Who Ms. Gilbert?" Elijah asked, and she could tell his patience was running low.

"Where is your family?" She asked.

"I don't think you're in the position to ask questions." Elijah snapped.

"And I don't think you are in the position to receive answers." Elena shot back and she shook her head. "I don't know why he would think you would love me."

"What?" Elijah asked, truly confused.

It was at that point that Trevor tried to ask for his freedom and Elijah chopped his head off, and then Damon and Stefan arrived and everything seemed to be okay.

\--

Caroline had been called over and sat with Elena on the couch, while Damon and Stefan took seats in the arm chairs across from them.

"Remember when I got lost in the woods when we were playing hide and seek all those years ago." She asked Caroline.

"Yeah of course, that was when you got rescued by that handsome stranger." Caroline replied.

Elena picked up a pad and paper and began to write on that.

Finn is Elijah's brother.

Caroline looked down at it and her eyes widened.

"Your not serious?" She asked.

"What?" Stefan asked, looking between the two.

"Relax Stef they aren't going to tell us." Damon said, lounging back in his chair. "It's their girly way."

Caroline glared at Damon, who smirked and waved his fingers at her.

"How do you know?" She asked Elena.

His features.

They share a lot of them.

"So where is he?" Caroline asked.

No idea.

"How do you plan on finding him?" Caroline asked and when Elena trained her eyes on Caroline's it clicked. "No Elena you cannot ask Elijah!"

"Woah!" Damon jumped up. "Elijah may have his creepy way of coming back from a stake to the heart, but that does not mean you should talk to him."

"I agree with Damon." Caroline said.

"My god it's the end of the world." Stefan muttered.

Damon and Caroline both shot him a glare, and Stefan raised his hands.

"Is it always this dramatic in this house." 

Everyone jumped to see Elijah standing at the entryway to the library.

"What are you doing here?" Damon shouted.

"I want to know how Ms. Gilbert here knew so much about me and my family when she never met any of us before in her life." Elijah said smoothly.

"That is not exactly true." Caroline whispered, but Elijah heard her and raised his eyebrows. "Ouch!" Caroline gasped when Elena hit her with a book.

"Where is your family?" Elena repeated her question from earlier.

"They are scattered throughout the ocean by Klaus." Elijah told her, sitting down on the arm of the couch the girls were sitting on. "Now answer my question."

"I met someone who knew your family when I was twelve, he was the kindest man I have ever met, but then he went away and I never saw him again." Elena said in a trance.

Her mind raced away with thoughts of Finn. This whole time she expected him to come back and here he was in the ocean where she would never find him again.

"So that rules out Finn and Niklaus." Elijah said, deep in thought.

"What?" Caroline asked for Elena.

"Niklaus would have sacrificed you if he knew you and Finn is way too bitter and not to mention he has been gone for 850 odd years." Elijah answered.

"If I work with you?" Elena asked him. "You must promise me that you will save your entire family and let me know when you have found them." 

"Are you nuts?" Damon shouted, but Elijah just smiled.

"Miss. Gilbert we got a deal."

\--

Elena stirred and she instantly grasped her neck. Suddenly the events of the past 24 hours came back to her. That man, all those years ago that was with Finn the last time she saw him was Klaus. He probably stuck Finn in the ocean shortly after that.

"Hey." She looked over to see Damon standing by the wall.

"Am I...?" Elena trailed off and was relieved when he shook his head. "How?" 

"You better keep sitting." Damon said as he sat down at the other end of the couch.

As Damon explained how she was still human, she couldn't help but wish her best friend was there so she could cry into his shoulder.


	3. Never Let Me Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for the break between chapter it is just everything that could happen did. First I experienced health issues with my mom (she is doing much better now), then I got my wisdom teeth out and was focusing on healing from that, then school started and I had to navigate my way through that, and I had to finish a previous story I had been working on first. In hindsight, I should not have tried to create two stories at once, but I have learned my lesson and have finished with the other one, so this story will be my main priority.
> 
> So, once again, thank you for being patient with me and as a symbol of my gratitude I have made this a long chapter. The first two chapters I created in April of 2019, and my writing skills have much improved since then. So, enjoy!

“It’s all so weird.” Elena told Caroline as they met for lunch at the grill. “The Originals are throwing a ball…like an actual ball.”

“It’s some twisted Cinderella fetish is what it is.” Caroline complained as she grabbed the menu from the waitress. “And why does the evil witch want an audience with you?”

“I don’t know.” Elena muttered, looking at the menu with glazed eyes.

She jumped slightly at the weight on her hand. Elena looked up to see Caroline smiling softly at her, with sympathy and love in her eyes.

“No word from Finn, I take it?” She asked and Elena shook her head.

“Not even a greeting card.” Elena grumbled. “I guess I was just that kid who thought that they had a friendship with an adult, but said adult was only humoring them.”

“Oh come on, Elena, you know that is not true.” Caroline protested.

“Is it?” Elena asked in frustration. “Then why haven’t I seen him? Why hasn’t he come to see me?”

“I don’t know.” Caroline muttered defeatedly.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Elena spoke with confidence and Caroline’s head snapped up.

“I thought you told Damon and Stefan that you weren’t going.” Caroline responded with a proud smirk on her face.

“I did, which is all the more reason why I need a drama-free bodyguard.” Elena told her.

“I think a Salvatore in a tux would look a lot better than I would…” Caroline teased with a smile. “And by that, I mean Stefan.”

“I can’t deal with either one of those men right now.” Elena sighed. 

“At least with Stefan you can look for Finn a lot better than what you would be able to if you were with Damon.” Caroline pointed out.

“True.” Elena agreed. “But whatever Stefan is feeling right now, he is channeling it against Klaus. And Damon…it’s just not a good idea.”

“You worried about what he might do to Finn?” Caroline asked.

“No.” Elena answered. “I am worried, that if you are right, what Finn will do to Damon.”

“Is it because you and Damon made out.” Caroline asked as she looked at the same salads that have been on the menu for the last 10 years. “Bonnie spilled the beans.”

“Look, I was going to tell you, it’s just that it was so unexpected and so weird and just…” Elena trailed off.

“Wrong?” Caroline supplied and Elena nodded. “Elena, you are allowed to not like a boy. If you do not feel what Damon clearly does, no one is going to hold it against you. Especially me.” Caroline smiled brightly and Elena giggled at this.

The two women giggled like little girls, forgetting their problems for just a moment.

“Careful, Caroline.” Rebekah called, walking over to their table. “It’s all well and good ‘till she stabs you in the back.”

“What are you doing here?” Elena asked, still a little pissed off from last night. “I know you mom’s rules. No hurting locals.”

“Get over yourself, Elena.” Rebekah said, only looking a little irritated. “It’s not all about you.”

Caroline and Elena shared a look as Rebekah walked over to Matt, who was cleaning the tables, and handed him a letter similar to the one both girls got.

“Oh, my God.” Caroline said in anger and confusion. “She’s inviting him to the ball. Why is she inviting him?” Caroline asked.

“Probably to get this reaction from us.” Elena responded.

Caroline whipped her head around to see Rebekah looking at Matt with a hopeful expression. Caroline slumped in her chair, scoffing,

“What time is this stupid dance?” Caroline all but growled and Elena almost smiled.

—

Finn slipped his hand, tiredly, over his face. He had missed when the rest of his family were getting ready for the ball, so he had to get ready in an hour. Although he heard that Bekah and Niklaus had gotten into an argument anyway, so he guessed he dodged a bullet. It wasn’t his fault though, Finn had simply lost track of time, for he had gone to sit in the meadow where he had met his best friend all those years ago.

“Explain this to me again?” He asked his mother.

“The doppelgänger of Tatia is going to be coming to the ball tonight, your goal is to convince her to talk to me alone. This will be a difficult task since Elijah is quite fond of her…” Esther told her eldest son, rubbing his shoulder. "You want to see Elena again right?”

Finn nodded his head, he went to his mother to find out what happened to that innocent girl he met, only to figure out she had died with her parents in a car crash when she was 16. He could not believe that the little girl who had only seen the good in him was dead, and now he wanted nothing more than to see her once more.

Esther smiled sinisterly behind his back. If all went according to plan, she would get her wish and she could cause misery to the young girl who threatened everything she was trying to do for the world. She schooled her face into that of heartbreak as her son turned around.

“I should go to the party and work on finding the girl.” He told her and she nodded.

“That you should.” She told him as he walked towards the door. “Finn?” She called.

“Yes.” He replied, turning to face her.

“You’re doing the right thing.” Esther assured him.

“I don’t care about the right thing or the wrong thing.” He reminded his mother. “I just care about her.”

Esther watched as he turned the door knob and left the room in search of the doppelgänger. All she could do was hope that he wouldn’t recognize her, and by the time she recognized him, it would be too late.

—

Elena grabbed her skirts and climbed up the stairs towards the mansion, she almost laughed when the two people by the doors opened them for her. When she got in, she could not help by stare in amazement at the mansion’s interior. When the woman in a black t-shirt and pants came to take her jacket, she gave it to her and thanked her.

This place was bigger than she had anticipated, but she could make do. Caroline promised that as soon as she got there, she would help Elena in her quest to find her long lost, Original, friend. That didn’t mean that Elena couldn’t get a head start on the ground level. When she turned to start looking, Stefan was there and she jumped slightly.

“What are you doing here?” She asked. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” Stefan responded with a tight smile.

“Surprise, surprise.” Damon walked up to them, coming to a stop behind Elena. “Nice tux.” He told his brother, who was wearing an identical copy. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Well, I am,” Elena said, smiling sarcastically at him. “and I’m not leaving until I find out what Esther wants,” _Among other things_ , Elena thought to herself. “so shall we?”

Stefan quirked an eyebrow before turning and offering her his arm. Elena turned and looked at Damon who, reluctantly gave her his arm. Elena sighed, knowing that she would at least have to wait until Caroline showed up to continue her hunt for her best friend.

—

Caroline thanked her mom for the ride and grabbed her skirt and climbed out of the car, she could not stop the gasp that left her face. The mansion that Klaus had made for his family truly was beautiful, even if it was built by people who had their free will stripped from them via compulsion. 

As she got inside she looked around for Finn, hoping her twelve year old memories of the eldest original still held up. She turned to see Klaus staring at her and she internally rolled her eyes, but made her way over to him. The best place to start looking for Finn was with his brother.

“Good evening.” Klaus greeted.

“I need a drink.” Caroline said and walked around him, figuring that she would rather search three of his mansions by herself than ask for his help.

She made her way to the drink table and waited for the compelled waiters to pour her a glass of champagne.

“One scotch…on second thought make that two.” A familiar voice drawled and Caroline turned her head slowly as if she feared he would disappear.

“Finn?” She asked and the man looked at her, he had not aged a day, but then again he was a vampire.

“Do I know you?” He asked with a tired voice and tired eyes connected with hers.

“It’s Caroline.” She told him, and when his eyes did not light up with recognition, she decided to elaborate. “Caroline Forbes. I was in pigtails and around twelve years old when we last met.”

A light bulb went off in his mind from what Caroline could see because this time his eyes did widen.

“Caroline?” He asked once more in confirmation and she nodded her head. “My God, you’ve grown.”

He smiled and brought her in for a hug, which she reciprocated. Her smile could light up a continent, she could not wait to find Elena.

“I am so happy I found you.” Caroline smiled as he released her from the hug. “Elena is going to be so happy. She has been looking for you ever since Elijah rolled into town last year.”

At the mention of Elena the small smile he had on his face vanished and Caroline furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

“Caroline, why would you mention her as if she is still here?” He asked.

“Well considering I spoke with her this morning, I would say she is still here?” Caroline responded and now it was Finn’s turn to furrow his eyebrows.

“But I don’t understand, I was told she…”

“Brother.” Klaus called out as he approached the two friends, jealously etched into his face. “I did not know you knew the wonderful Caroline Forbes.”

“Yes, well, not everything is your business, Klaus.” Caroline lectured before turning back to Finn. “Why would you think she wasn’t here anymore?”

“I was told she had died in a car crash when she was sixteen?” Finn responded, his facts slowly turning into questions.

Caroline shook her head at this and her heart began to beat faster, she turned to Klaus to see his blue eyes watching the conversation intently.

“Klaus, have you seen Elena tonight?” Caroline asked, suddenly willing to work with the man since it was clear that something more sinister was going on.

“Last I saw she had broke away from the Salvatores and was heading over by Matthew.” Klaus answered. “If we pause for just a tick, I would love to know how my brother knows the lovely Ele…she was the little girl from all those years ago.” Klaus finished, his eyes holding the same amount of shock as they had held all those years ago.

“Come on.” Caroline grabbed Finn’s arm, ignoring Klaus’ realization, and began to push her way through the crowds of people.

“If she didn’t die in the car accident, what became of her?” Finn asked, ignoring his brother’s presence from behind them.

“Her parents were killed, but she was saved by a vampire.” Caroline told him and he looked at her in horror. “Don’t worry, she’s still human, unlike me.”

“Caroline…” Finn began but Caroline cut him off with a smile.

“It’s okay, I am surprisingly better off.” Caroline told him. “Matt!” She called at the sight of the blonde, but sighed realizing that he was talking with the Salvatore brothers as well as Alaric.

“Care.” Matt responded and his blue eyes widened at who she was walking with. “Finn?”

“Matthew.” Finn acknowledged and held out his hand. “It is truly wonderful to see you again.”

“Yeah, you too.” Matt responded, shaking his hand, still in shock a little.

“Hold up, how do you know him?” A man with jet black hair asked, and Finn recognized him as one of the people with his brother the night he was awoken.

“It’s a long story that we will have to explain later.” Caroline told him and the guy narrowed his icy blue eyes at her. “I’m serious, Damon, where’s Elena?” 

“We thought she was with you?” A man with green eyes responded.

“I wouldn’t be here if she was.” Caroline snapped. “I’m sorry, Stefan.” She replied with a sigh and rubbed her finger roughly across the bridge of her nose.

“It’s okay.” The guy, Stefan, gave her a warm smile.

“Told you it wasn’t safe for her to come.” Damon replied, smugly.

“Not now, Damon.” Caroline growled.

“Their mother wanted to see her, maybe she is with her.” Alaric suggested.

Finn’s eyes widened and he took off towards the stairs before Elijah’s voice rang out.

“Uh, if everyone could gather, please.” Elijah spoke up to get everyone’s attention.

Finn moved to continue up the stairs when he felt a hand grip his shoulder, he whipped around to find Klaus standing there.

“Let me go, Niklaus.” Finn growled softly.

“Play this smart brother.” Klaus hissed his warning. “You’ve waited too long for this moment to ruin it now.”

“Welcome.” Elijah greeted, and Finn locked his jaw, but remained by Klaus. “Thank you for joining us. You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it’s tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight’s pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom.”

Finn did not hesitate to run after his mother, easily catching up with her.

“Mother?” He called and remembered his brother’s warning to play it safe. “It is harder than expected to find the doppelgänger, have you seen her?”

“She was just listening to your brother’s speech.” Esther smiled, not picking up on the lie. “She saw me and knows what she must do, so your work is done for now, my son.”

Esther continued her way into the hallway that lead to her room and Finn watched her go for a minute before turning around. He watched many of the guests begin to partner up and head towards the dance floor. Sighing he headed back down the stairs, this was going to be harder than he thought, luckily he remembered what Tatia looked like so that could be of some use.

—

Elena patiently listened to Elijah’s speech but kept her eyes trained on her best friend. She saw that he had been in a hurry to get up the stairs, but then she had seen Klaus stop him and whisper something to him. Elena saw that whatever Klaus said frustrated Finn, but whatever it was worked, for Finn remained still.

Once the speech was over, she picked up her skirts, determined to see her best friend that she had not seen since she was twelve. Suddenly Damon was in front of her and forced her to break her eye contact she had on Finn.

“Don’t even think about it.” Damon warned her.

“Damon, get out of my way.” Elena sighed, just wanting to be done with his controlling ways for the day.

“Was I not clear this morning?” Damon asked, ignoring her demand.

“I was invited.” Elena growled. “Now if you’ll excuse me there is someone I need to see.”

“Yeah, I’m not letting you by Mama Original.” Damon told her before sticking out his hand. “I’m not letting you walk into the lion’s den. Now come on its rude not to dance, you know.”

Elena sighed and grabbed his hand, knowing she just needed to get this done and over with and then she could find Finn. 

“It is tradition.” Elena said mockingly and followed him out onto the dance floor.

One she was getting the hang of the dance she allowed her mind to wander. Who cared if Esther wanted to see her, her friends and family came first…Well first she had to find a way to get rid of Damon.

“You look stunning, if it isn’t obvious.” Damon told her.

“Thank you.” Elena replied distractedly, looking for Finn amongst the dancers as well as the bystanders.

—

“I’m glad you came.” Klaus told Caroline as they danced.

“Well it was either caviar or sympathy casseroles.” Caroline told him. “And besides I needed to find your brother.”

“Maybe after this dance you can explain to me all that goes into my brother’s relationship with Elena?” Klaus asked and Caroline reluctantly nodded.

She knew that he was going to try and figure it out any which way, and she wanted what he knew to be the truth…or as much of one as one was allowed to know since it wasn’t actually her relationship to tell.

“I heard about you father.” Klaus told her and her gaze snapped back to his.

“Don’t.” She told him, drawing the line. “Seriously.”

“Okay.” He replied softly, so softly that Caroline wasn’t one hundred percent sure he said it. “I see you are wearing my dress.” He said cheekily and Caroline rolled her eyes, whatever moment they had been having was gone.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t really have time to shop.” She responded sarcastically.

“And the bracelet I gave you, what’s your excuse for wearing that?” He asked, his gaze flickering down to her wrist for a second.

“It goes with the dress.” She responded emotionlessly.

“You know you’re quite the dancer.” Klaus changed the subject again, a small smile on his face.

“Yeah, well, I’ve had training.” Caroline was glad that they were off the previous two topics. “I happen to be Miss. Mystic Falls.”

“I know.” He responded sincerely.

—

Elena did not try to hide her relief as Damon spun her to her next dance partner. She jumped slightly as she landed in her ex-boyfriend’s arms. Slowly her and Stefan found the rhythm of the dance.

“Hmm.” She mused sarcastically. “He dances, and I didn’t even have to beg.”

“Well, Mayor Lockwood dragged me out here.” Stefan explained. “Couldn’t exactly say no. Took you about thirty seconds to put Damon in a mood.”

“He’s looking out for me.” Elena informed Stefan.

“Mm. Well, he needs to learn that you can look out for yourself.” Elena looked into his eyes, confusion swirling in hers and Stefan smiled softly. 

“I need to talk to you.” Elena whispered in his ear.

“Ok, so talk.” Stefan told her.

“I—Not here.” She told him and grabbed his hand as they left.

No sooner had they left the room, Finn managed to make it over to the part of the dance hall where they had been dancing, not seeing the pair that had just left the floor. So he continued on his search around the room.

—

“What are you doing?” Caroline hissed at Matt as they danced. “Why are you here with the she devil?”

“What was I supposed to say, no?” Matt asked rhetorically. “And why the hell are you here with Klaus?”

“I thought it would be a good place to start on tracking down Finn.” Caroline told him and Matt nodded, seeming to accept this answer.

“Who would have thought he was a vampire, much less an Original?” Matt muttered and chuckled and Caroline joined him in laughing. “Do you think Elena is in trouble, I mean, Finn looked really worried when he learned that Elena wasn’t with either one of us?”

“Well, his mother did lie to him about Elena’s life.” Caroline mused. “But she will be safe, she is with Stefan. Even if she isn’t, she is a strong person, and who is to say Finn didn’t already find her.”

“I hope you’re right.” Matt muttered as they continued to dance.

—

“Stop staring.” Damon mocker Rebekah, who was staring at Caroline and Matt. “It’s creepy.”

“Of course she looks beautiful.” Rebekah muttered, ignoring Damon. “Nik gave her everything she’s wearing.”

“Well, you’re no dog yourself.” Damon told her.

“Was that supposed to be a complement?” Rebekah tried to act as if she didn’t care.

“Heh.” Damon gave an unamused laugh. “You tried to kill Elena last night. You don’t get compliments.”

“Caveman.” Rebekah insulted.

“Where is Elena?” Damon asked, looking around.

“Why would I know?” Rebekah said sarcastically. “I doubt she’d want to be around her ‘attempted murderer’.”

“Maybe your brother isn’t useless after all.” Damon muttered, seeing Finn making his way politely through the guests.

“I doubt Elijah would want to help you.” Rebekah smirked.

“I’m not talking about him.” Damon muttered and left Rebekah as he set off after Finn.

He made it about halfway there when he received a text from Elena. Damon turned around and walked right past Rebekah again, who looked extremely confused. It took him a moment to find the room Elena talked about, and he saw her playing nervously with her gloves.

“I got your text.” He told her. “What are we doing in here?”

Damon heard a creak and turned to look at it, but Stefan got to him first breaking his back. Elena closed her eyes while he did it. She knew this was the only way to find Finn, after not finding him anywhere else, she knew he must be with his mother.

“Well, better hurry up.” Stefan told her, even though he only knew half of the reason on why she wanted to see Esther. “Won’t be down for long.”

Elena did not hesitate to leave the room in search of Esther, or Finn, whoever she ran into first.

“Elena.” She heard a voice call from behind her, and turned to see Elijah. “I understand my mother has requested to see you.”

“Uh, yeah.” She answered and kept moving as she did not have time to come to a complete stop. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Well, her ability to forgive my brother after everything he’s done to destroy this family strikes me as a little strange to say the least.” Elijah informed her.

“Do you think that it’s an act?” She asked.

“It has me asking questions I never thought I’d ask.” Elijah said as he came to a stop in front of her. “Can I depend on you to tell me what she says?”

“As long as I can depend on you.” She told him.

“What is it you wish me to do?” He asked.

“Find your brother.” She told him. “Tell him where I’ve gone and that I will be waiting for him there.”

“Done.” He agreed and she went to step around him. "Which brother?” He asked before she left.

“Finn.” She told him and was surprised to see that he nodded and left without asking any questions. “I’ll find you later, ok?” She called out to him and he turned to nod at her before they went their separate ways.

—

Finn continued to look around the manor for Elena, Caroline and Matt had joined in to as well as Elena’s guardian, Alaric. They had all split up and Finn was checking the part where his mother was residing, he figured that would be the best place to start.

“Brother.” He heard a voice and turned to see Elijah walking up to him.

“Elijah.” Finn stopped, his voice filled with stress. “What do you need?”

“I was sent to find you.” Elijah told him and Finn furrowed his eyebrows. “Tell me brother, just how is it, that you and Elena Gilbert know each other?” Elijah asked with a knowing smile on his face.

“Elena…Elijah where is she?” He asked urgently and walked over to his little brother and the smile dropped from his brother’s face.

“With mother.” He told him slowly, and Finn cursed under his breath and took off towards the room where he knew Esther was hiding out in. “Finn, what is going on?”

“Let’s just say that none of us are safe if we don’t find her now.” Finn spoke just as quickly as his legs were carrying him.

—

Elena knocked on the door to find a random man standing there.

“You’re alone.” He observed. “Wise choice.”

Elena stepped into the room, looking around for her friend, but her eyes landed on his mother, who was holding something that was smoking in her hand.

“It’s only sage.” Esther told her. “I’ve spelled it so we can speak freely without fear of being overheard.”

Elena thought back to Elijah’s worries and realized he was right to have them. There was something about Esther that made her nervous.

“You can go, Joesph, thank you.” Esther turned to the man who let Elena in the room. “And you will remember none of this.”

The stranger nodded and left the room closing the door behind him.

“I thought only vampires can compel people?” Elena asked.

“Vampires are one of the many supernatural beings to possess a form of mind control.” Esther told her. “You can come closer, Elena, I won’t harm you.” 

Elena still was hesitant and Esther gave her what she thought was supposed to be a warm smile, but all it did was send cold chills through her.

“You must have a million questions for me, Elena.” Esther told her and motioned for the couch. “Please.”

Elena stared at the piece of furniture wearily for a moment before she moved over to it and sat down, Esther following in her example.

“How are you alive?” She asked, deciding to start off easily, even though it killed her, but Elijah’s worries kept playing on repeat in her head. “Are you a ghost, or…”

“Not exactly.” Esther cut her off. “When I died, the witch Ayana preserved my body with a spell. She was a close friend of mine, an ancestor of your friend Bonnie.”

“So that’s why only Bonnie and her mother could open up the casket.” Elena pieced together.

“They complete the Bennett bloodline.” Esther informed her as Elena shifted anxiously in her seat. “I drew power from them and their ancestors who were with me on the Other Side.”

“So you’ve been on the Other Side for a thousand years?” Elena asked, shocked.

“Nature's way of punishing me for turning my family into vampires.” Esther informed her. “But there is a way for me to undo the evil I created.”

“You’re here to help us kill Klaus, aren’t you?” Elena asked.

“One thing at a time, Elena.” Esther scolded. “For now, I simply need your help.” Esther stood up and walked over by a table that had two candles, a chalice, a large needle and a decanter of sorts. “I understand Rebekah shared the story of my family…How I upset the balance of nature by turning my children into vampires.”

“She said you did it to protect them from the werewolves.” Elena told her, keeping her distance until she knew exactly what was going on.

“It’s true.” Esther told her, continuing with her work. “But in no time at all, they began to feed on human blood. They ravaged the town with no remorse. Eventually Niklaus turned against me.”

“How are you gonna kill him?” Elena asked warily eyeing the needle Esther had picked up. “He’s immortal.”

Esther slammed the needle down softly and turned to Elena who unconsciously took a step back.

“It will take time, magic, and your assistance.” Esther told her.

“What do I have to do with it?” Elena asked.

“My children believe I am holding this ball to celebrate our reunion.” Esther told her. “But in truth, I’ve gathered them together to perform a ritual. The first step requires the blood from a doppelgänger. Only a drop.” Esther assured her, seeing Elena get even more suspicious. “Its essence will be in the champagne toast later on this evening. Will you do it?” Esther asked looking at the needle she had picked up. “Or shall I?”

Elena stared at Esther before she shook her head and took another step back.

“I’m sorry, but family means everything to Elijah and he does not deserve to loose his brother after everything he has done to assure they would all be together.” Elena told her. 

“Do not mistake me, Elena, I love my family.” Esther told her, the woman’s face betrayed no emotions. “But they are an abomination, and it is my duty to kill them.”

“Where’s Finn?” She finally asked, taking another step back.

“Out there.” Esther motioned to the doors. “Assuring that the doppelgänger would come to me.”

“But Finn would never…” Elena started.

“He would if he thought his only friend was dead.” Esther told her and Elena gasped. “I am sorry, Elena, but I will do whatever it takes to make things right.”

Esther took another step towards her and Elena took another step back just as a thump could be heard against the door. This seemed to confuse Esther, who turned towards the door just as it was kicked in. Finn and Elijah entered the room and eyed their mother as well as the needle she held.

“Are you okay, Elena?” Elijah asked, not taking his eyes off his mother.

“I’m fine.” She told him but her eyes were locked on her friend’s, the way the bore into hers sent chills throughout her body in a way they never had before, but she chalked it up to the fact that she had not seen him in years.

Finn stared into her eyes, waiting for someone to tell him this was a dream and it was not the little girl he met all those years ago.

“Finn?” She asked and that was all it took for him to take long steps over to her.

He pulled her into a hug and swung her around in a circle. She giggled at this and held onto him tightly, threading her fingers in his hair. After a moment he set her on the ground, a rare smile on his face. He held onto her hands and ignored the warm surges that ran through his body. Deep down it confused him, for he never got them whenever he held her hand the last time they were together.

“I thought you dead.” He spoke in a tone that had gone out of style centuries ago, but it didn’t matter to Elena because she had her best friend back.

“Well, as you can see, I’m very much alive.” She smiled with a shake of her head.

“Enough!” Esther shouted and the friends jumped, forgetting that they were not alone.

Finn glanced at his brother before turning his gaze on his mother, slowly he stepped in front of Elena, placing his arm in front of her to prove that Esther was not to go near her. Elena placed her hand on his arm, peaking around Finn’s form, slowly wishing she had listened to Damon on some things.

“You lied to me.” Finn hissed. “You were going to let me destroy everything in my life.”

“I’m sorry, Finn, but I had to do what was necessary.” Esther explained to her eldest son.

“What was necessary for what, mother?” Elijah asked.

“Well, Elijah, our mother here has plans for all of us to die.” Finn told his brother, not taking his eyes off their mother. “I was going to be the sacrificial lamb, that was until I met Caroline Forbes.”

Esther’s eyes narrowed in anger as her eyebrows crinkled in confusion, causing Finn to smirk.

“No matter how miserable I was, I was not going to kill my friend’s best friend.” Finn told Esther.

“What do you mean?” Elena asked and Finn turned his head to meet her eyes.

“There was something my mother told me, that in hindsight she probably should not have told me, but if you kill an Original, you don’t just kill them, but their whole sire line.” Finn told her.

“You were going to make me kill all of my friends?” Elena glared at Esther.

“Once again, I will do whatever is necessary to make sure my plan is seen through.” Esther said and raised her hand.

Elena cried out in pain as an intense pain rang out in her head. Finn caught her just before she fell, but Elena was already unconscious.

“What have you done?” Finn growled.

“All I have done is simply render her unconscious.” Esther told him and raised her hand at Elijah who had began to run at her, and his brother dropped to his knees in pain before his neck was snapped.

“Now, then,” Esther said as she shook her hand that she used on the other two people in the room. “Finn, let her go.”

“Go to hell.” Finn hissed, holding Elena tighter.

“Now, now, Finn.” Esther mocked and walked up to where he was crouched on the floor with his friend in his arms. “You wouldn’t want me to actually melt her brain, now would you?”

Finn looked down at the brunette in his arms, who looked so incredibly peaceful and innocent. He looked back up to his mother who had a smug smirk on her face.

“Fine, but give me the needle and cup, I am not letting you anywhere near her.” Finn demanded and Esther gave him the objects.

Finn pricked her finger and a flash of discomfort appeared on her face as she began to stir, the look made Finn feel as if a chunk of his heart was ripped off.

“Finn?” She asked groggily.

“It’s okay, Elena.” He told her as he squeezed a drop of blood into the cup. “Everything will be okay, I promise.”

Esther took the cup and began to whisper over it, the flames on the table glowing brighter. During this Elena sat up and rubbed her eye, not caring about her makeup anymore. She became more alert as she saw the burning flame and looked over at Finn who was smiling sadly at her.

“I’m sorry.” He told her and she saw Esther split the chalice into three different cups. “But you need to run.” He whispered.

“No.” She told him.

“Elena.” He warned.

“I left you to certain death once before.” She told him, remembering the last time she ever saw him was with Klaus. “I’m not doing it again.”

“What happened before tonight was not your fault.” Finn told her.

“I don’t care, I’m not leaving you, end of story.” Elena told him and yelped as she was thrown back into the wall and the drapes wrapped around her frame, holding her there.

Finn went to go over by her, but was yanked back down by and invisible force. Esther walked over by him and held out one of the glasses and pressed it against his lips. Finn tried to keep his mouth shut but Esther plugged his nose and eventually he, unintentionally, gasped for air and felt the liquid slide down his throat. He knelt, frozen, as he watched his mother go over to his brother and open his limp mouth and pour the drink in it.

As if it was timed, his brother’s neck snapped back into place and Elijah swallowed the liquid while choking on it. The surprise it caused Esther to experience was enough for her to, unintentionally, release Finn. He did not hesitate to grab a candelabra and hit his mother in the back of the head with it. He wished he had time to finish the job but he knew that she was not working alone. So revenge would have to wait and he ran over to Elena, pulling the drapes away from her. Together they went over and helped Elijah to his feet.

“Where’s mother?” Elijah gasped and the other two looked over to see Esther gone.

“I have an idea.” Finn hissed.

“Come on.” Elena said and all three of them left the room in the direction of the ball room, when three strangers stood in front of them.

“Who are they?” Elijah asked.

“You’re mother said there were many different forms of mind control.” Elena told the brothers.

“She means to slow us down.” Finn said in realization.

“No killing.” Elijah told him.

“Agreed.” Finn responded as they set off towards the three men.

Elena watched the two brothers quickly fight off the three men, and it was clear that they were not vampires. Elijah straightened the sleeve on his tux as he eyed the three men on the floor.

“That seemed to easy.” He muttered.

“That’s because she doesn’t need it to be hard, she just needs to make her toast.” Finn said and grabbed Elena’s hand as they continued down the hallway.

“Cheers!” They heard the crowd toast and Elena knew they were too late.

“Niklaus!” Elijah called to their younger brother, who was standing beside Caroline, as they made their way over to them.

“Brothers.” Klaus greeted and his eyes drifted down to Elena and Finn’s hands and a small smirk appeared on his face and Elena thought she saw something similar to relief in his eyes.

“I need you to go get Kol, Rebekah, Matthew and Alaric.” Elijah told him.

“I don’t think the last two will listen to anything I have to say.” Klaus said sarcastically.

“We don’t have time for this, get the others, tell Matthew and Alaric, Elena wants them if you have to but we need to get out of here now.” Elijah snapped.

Klaus’ smile dropped from his face and he nodded and left.

“Elena!” A voice called and they turned to see Damon walking over towards them. “Did you get what you wanted?”

“Not at all.” Elena told him, her patience running thin.

“Well, that sucks, but you can tell me on the way home. Come on.” He commanded and took a step towards her, but Finn got in front of her.

There really wasn’t that big of a height difference, but Damon’s five foot ten figure stopped and looked up at Finn’s six foot one form. The younger vampire’s ice blue eyes narrowed.

“What the hell do you want now, Flynn, was it?” Damon mocked and Finn opened his mouth to speak but Elena placed a hand on his arm.

“It’s okay.” She told him. “I got this, trust me.”

Finn did not hesitate to step back and Elena was glad that that trait had not changed in her friend.

“Look, Damon, I’m sorry I had to cut you out of the plan.” Elena told him. “But I had to find my friend.”

“Wait, I thought the plan was to talk to Esther?” Damon responded irritably.

“It was, but not for the reasons I told you or Stefan.” Elena informed him.

“You should have included me in on this, not Stefan.” Damon hissed.

“Now, you’re mad at me for including Stefan?” Elena asked in disbelief.

“No, I’m mad at you because I love you.” Damon blurted out.

Everyone froze at this, but Finn’s eyes narrowed, he did not like this man one bit and hoped that Elena did not feel the same way about him, but in the end it was her choice and if this idiot made her happy then he would be happy for her.

“Well, maybe that’s the problem then.” Elena told him. “No, that’s not what I…”

“Elena.” Finn’s calm voice came from behind her and the tension left her body, something that Damon did not miss. “Do you love him? Be honest, no one is in charge of your feelings but you.”

“Damon, I always will care for you.” Elena said, Finn’s words taking a huge weight off her chest as she was all reminded of the conversation she had with Caroline at the grill this morning. “But I can’t care for you the way you obviously do for me, I’m sorry.”

Damon looked between Finn and her and realization ignited in his piercing blue eyes. He scoffed and let his eyes harden in anger and deep down a flicker of hurt. Elena furrowed her eyebrows, not noticing what he was staring at and looked around her, but Damon’s voice cut off any thoughts that her brain was beginning to form.

“No, I got it, Elena.” He hissed. “Sorry I care too much.”

The elder Salvatore eyed all of them before he turned around pushing through Klaus and the people the hybrid had been tasked to find, disappearing into the crowd.

“What was that all about?” Matt asked, looking surprisingly comfortable being around all the Originals.

“Nothing.” Elena told him. “He’ll be fine.”

“What are we doing, brother?” Klaus asked Elijah after nodding at Elena’s answer.

“I will tell you, but not here.” Elijah looked around wearily.

“Then where?” Rebekah and Kol asked at the same time and proceeded to glare at each other.

Elena bit back a smile, it was moments like these that proved they were a family who, deep down, loved each other. Caroline once told her that anyone capable of love was capable of being saved, and Elena was going to try her hardest to give them a second chance…everyone deserved a chance at one.

“I know a place.” Elena spoke up with confidence, they could survive this, she just knew it.


	4. Still Have You

“Alright, Matt you take Rebekah, Elena you take Finn, and Ric will take the rest of us.” Caroline ordered as they walked down the stairs of the mansion.

“But she had the biggest car.” Klaus protested, and Caroline gave him a glare. “But your plan sounds great, luv.”

If Elena didn’t know any better, she would say Klaus had a hint of fear in his voice. It was quite ironic that the world’s most deadly creature was scared of a high school cheerleader.

“I really hope I don’t regret this.” Elena muttered. “Rebekah, Kol, Klaus you are invited into my lake house. Caroline, Finn, you guys are invited in as well.”

“Why did they not get the ‘regret this’ tag?” Kol complained as Elijah grabbed his arm.

“Because she trusts them.” Elijah explained.

“Why doesn’t she trust…okay, fair point, but why didn’t she need to invite you in?” Kol asked and Elena and Elijah shared a look.

The older Mikaelson simply smiled softly and turned back to his little brother, much to Kol’s confusion.

“It’s quite a complicated tale, but long story short, I can get in.” Elijah told him and began to pull him towards Alaric’s car.

“Wait, why is Finn the only one going with Elena?” Kol complained and pulled his arm from Elijah’s grip. “She clearly has the biggest car, and yet she is only taking Finn.”

“God, did you learn nothing from your brother!” Caroline shouted in frustration and spun around to face Kol, a glare to kill a vampire on her face. “Is the only thing you know how to do is complain like a five year old?”

The youngest male Mikaelson gulped and Elena smiled fondly, she knew that the Originals were learning not to argue with Caroline, minus Rebekah. Kol grumbled something else but Elena could not hear as he followed Elijah and Klaus to Alaric’s car. Caroline grabbed Elena’s arm and brought her friend into a hug.

“Be safe.” Caroline told her.

“I will be Care, I promise.” Elena promised and tried to calm her shaking limbs. “Call your mom on the way over, her and Jeremy need to be safe too.”

“Of course.” Caroline nodded and looked, over Elena’s head, at Finn. “Keep her safe.” Caroline pleaded and Finn nodded.

“Always.” He told her and Caroline turned to rush to the car. “We need to go, who knows whether or not Mother still cares about the local people.” Finn told Elena, who nodded.

She grabbed his hand and walked towards her car, when they reached it Finn came to a stop causing Elena to turn around and look up at him. Finn brought her into his arms once more, simply holding her, instead of swinging her around like before.

“I’m sorry.” She told him and he pulled back slightly to look her in the eyes, his arms still wrapped loosely around her waist and hers around his neck.

“What for?” He asked.

“For not realizing what kind of danger you were in the last time we saw each other.” She told him.

“Wha…Elena, you were twelve.” Finn told her, confusion lacing his words.

“Doesn't matter. You are my best friend, I should have known something was up.” Elena told him and turned to get in her car.

“Elena, look at me.” He told her, but she refused to look him in the eye. 

Finn rolled his eyes, he was glad that she didn’t change too much. She was just as stubborn as she always had been. So, he took two long steps to get around her and grabbed her face gently in his hands, and forced her to look at him.

“What happened with Niklaus was a long time ago, I am over it…kind of.” He amended, allowing a smile to graze his face when Elena let out a small laugh. “What I am trying to say is I never, nor will I ever, blame you for what happened. Okay?”

They stood there for a moment and neither realized they were staring at each other for longer than usual. Elena felt her heart speed up and she cleared her throat, nodding her head.

“Okay.” Elena agreed quietly and got in the car, Finn walked around and climbed in the passenger’s seat.

 _What the hell was that_ , Elena thought as she pulled away from the mansion.

—

Stefan walked over to where his brother was standing on the stairs. Damon’s ice blue eyes rested on where Elena’s car was.

“You seem more pissed off than usual.” Stefan observed.

“Why didn’t she tell us she was BFF’s with the most brooding Mikaelson I have ever met?” Damon questioned. “And we’ve known Elijah for a year.” 

“That’s not all that is going on in that psychopathic mind of yours, is it?” Stefan ignored the other question.

“She’s in love with him, Stef.” Damon gritted out.

“You expect me to care?” Stefan replied, even though he did care…a lot.

“There’s gotta be something I can work with?” Damon questioned to himself, ignoring Stefan.

“Her name is Sage.” A cool voice came from behind them, causing the brothers to whip around.

“And why would you help us get Elena away from your son?” Damon mocked. “Don’t you want to be one big happy family?”

Esther said nothing but simply smiled cynically at the brothers.

“You want to help us kill Klaus.” Stefan figured out.

“Yes, but to do that I need to link them as one, so if one goes they will all go.” Esther told them.

“And how does this ‘Sage’ play into this?” Damon asked hesitantly.

“She will drive enough of a wedge between Finn and Elena for me to get her.” Esther told them.

“You must think me crazy to help you kidnap the woman I love.” Damon hissed, not seeing the flicker of pain on Stefan’s face.

“No harm will come to her Damon, you have my word, she’s just motivation.” Esther said to Damon.

“Motivation?” Stefan asked.

“Yes.” Esther confirmed. “As Damon said, Elena is very…close with my son, and he with her. The link must be willingly forged by one of my children. I can use her to get my son to complete the link and then all it would take was a white oak stake to the heart to any of my children to get rid of them all. With Finn gone, Elena would be all yours.”

“Well, we’ve tried to kill Elijah with a stake before and it hasn’t exactly worked in our favor.” Stefan informed her.

“A white oak stake is quite different from that of an ordinary stake.” Esther told the two brothers. “I assure you this will work on one of them.”

Damon and Stefan exchanged a look before Stefan turned back to Esther.

“You’re willing to get rid of your _entire_ family?” Stefan asked in confirmation.

“I will always love my children, but I know I must do this for humanity.” Esther told him. “So, boys, do we have a deal?”

Damon looked at Stefan with a smirk and turned back towards Esther.

“You can count me in Mrs. M.” Damon told her.

Stefan on the other hand was torn, for a man that did not seem to care. On one hand he could get the revenge he wanted on Klaus, but risk loosing Elena forever. Or he could tell Elena but risk loosing his revenge, brother, and destroying Damon’s happiness. He looks up and saw Esther and Damon awaiting his answer and he sighed.

“I’m in.” He told them, revenge outweighing the risk that could follow.

—

Elena drove in silence as Finn was studying the car’s interior intently and eventually Elena began to laugh at this, startling Finn.

“Sorry.” She apologized after her laugh turned into little giggles. “Haven’t you ever been in a car before?”

“No.” He answered sheepishly. “I compelled myself a flight all those years ago, but did not risk getting something that was permanent enough for Niklaus to track.”

“Can I ask you something?” Elena asked, turning her head to the side to look at him briefly before looking back at the road.

“Of course.” He told her, looking away from the window to look at her.

She had definitely grown up that was for sure. He was still getting used to the fact that the twelve year old he had befriended was now an adult.

“What’s it like?” She asked and he looked at her with confusion. “When you were…asleep. What was it like?”

“The first or second time?” He asked in a monotone voice and looked out the window.

Finn jumped slightly when he felt pressure on his hand and looked to see Elena had one hand on the wheel while paying attention to the road, not having to look at him to know that by his tone that the questioned pained him. It was amazing how much things had changed yet how much things had not changed.

“You don’t have to answer.” Elena told him and he smiled softly, squeezing her hand.

“The first time it was a…black horizon of sorts.” Finn said, never once letting go of his best friend’s hand. “It was the place where I was abandoned and forgotten by my family. I think that caused me to go a little mad, making me hate what I was even more than I already had.”

“Finn…” Elena started, but was cut of by a small chuckle coming from her passenger.

“Then some idiot camper stumbled upon the coffin Niklaus had hid in a cave to keep Elijah from removing the dagger from my chest. The camper must have liked the shine from the handle or something, I will never know, but he pulled it out. As soon as I woke I left, after loosing control with the camper. I took the dagger and ran as far as I could. 

Then I met you.” He smiled and placed a light kiss on her knuckles, he was still old-fashioned in many ways, and Elena ignored the warm surge it sent through her. “And life was bearable for the first time in hundreds of years. Then my brother found me and I found myself in that same horrid coffin once more.

But this time, when I closed my eyes I would dream of ice cream sundaes and wildflower fields and a girl with the most beautiful dark brown eyes that were filled with all the imagination and wonder the world could offer. Those thoughts were was allowed me to begin to accept what I was. The thought that I would, one day, see you again was all I needed to stay sane. You saved me, Elena.”

The younger woman blushed at that and was glad it was dark in the car so he couldn’t see her face.

“It’s true, Elena.” He confirmed, a smirk on his face as he turned back towards the road.

“But there could have been the possibility that you would wake up long after I was gone.” Elena reminded him.

“That is true.” Finn agreed with a nod of his head. “But I guess, all I could do was hope.”

“I’m glad you did.” Elena admitted.

“Me too.” Finn agreed and was silent for a minute before he remembered something. “Caroline mentioned what happened to your parents.” Finn told her after a moment of silence. “I’m sorry, Elena, they were amazing people.”

“Did you know who they were?” Elena asked, many questions that she had formed over the years suddenly had a chance of being answered.

“That they were a part of the council?” Finn asked and Elena nodded. “I did.”

“But you still treated them as your friends?” Elena asked.

“Are you not friends with Caroline? Or Bonnie?” Finn asked. “Elena, you are one of the kindest people I know and you got that from your parents. You focus on what is on the inside before you focus on their species, another trait you got from them. That’s how I was friends with them.”

Elena nodded and pulled into the driveway and put the car in park next to Ric’s who, by the looks of it, was already inside.

“I miss them.” Elena stared out the window at the lake, but her eyes were somewhere else.

Finn looked at her before looking towards the house and saw Caroline there. He got out of the car and spoke without stopping, knowing the blonde could hear him.

“Give us a minute, make sure we are not heard.” He said before he opened Elena’s door and held out his hand.

Elena did not hesitate to give him her hand and he gently pulled her from the car. She went to start towards the lake house but was surprised when Finn took them down towards the lake. The last time she was here, she was with Stefan and being hunted by the guy who she had just invited into her house.

“What are you doing, Finn?” Elena asked as they came to a stop at the end of the pier.

He focused for a minute and heard the kitchen sink running, and sent a silent thank you to Caroline.

“I doubt any of the others have told you about my sister?” Finn asked.

“No, but they didn’t need to, I’ve met Rebekah…” Elena began.

“Not Rebekah, my other sister, Freya.” Finn told her.

“Freya?” Elena questioned and Finn nodded.

“Once my mother made a deal, a deal that gave her all of us.” Finn told her and motioned towards the house his siblings were in. “But it came with a price. My sister.”

“Why would your mother make a deal like that?” Elena gasped.

“She was desperate, for fate decided that she was not to bear children. So she went to my aunt…” Finn explained.

“Aunt?” Elena asked.

“Dahlia.” Finn confirmed. “My siblings do not know of her existence. Dahlia agreed to use magic to help my mother, but in return she would get every first born from the Mikaelson line. Freya fell claim to that. She was five the last I saw of her and I was four, Elijah wasn’t even born yet. So to cover up what had happened, my mother told everyone, including my father, that Freya had died. To this day my mother and I are the only ones who know what truly happened to my sister.”

“Finn,” Elena placed her hand on his face. “I am so sorry.”

“Do you know what I used to do when I was younger and I missed her?” Finn asked and Elena shook her head. “I used to slip out of the house in the dead of night and just look up at the stars, and I would somehow be connected to her. Look up, Elena.”

Elena looked up and saw a multitude of stars that lined the clear night sky. Finn looked down from the sky to see her mouth open in awe and smiled despite all the pain and tragedy that led them here.

“Whenever you miss them Elena, just remember that, despite how small we are in the universe, you are never alone.” Finn whispered.

Parts of him were devastated that he missed so much time with her, and other parts were glad that he did. If Niklaus would have never found him then he eventually would have had to leave to prevent the risk of being exposed by the council. Also there were many perks of having an older version of his friend to talk to, he didn’t have to sugar coat things any more. But she should never have had to know these things existed. He was glad, however, that they were able to fall right back into their rhythm again, even though there seemed to be something different that Finn could not explain.

Elena finally drew her gaze away from the stars to look at her friend, she was overjoyed to have him in her life again. It was nice to have a smaller age gap too, well that normal people could see, they still had a thousand years separating them. This smaller age difference allowed for them to have a sense of true maturity and trust added to their friendship. She didn’t want him to feel like he had to hide any of his secrets from her anymore. There was something that confused her though, ever since she was reunited with him, she had been feeling warm surges whenever they touched, almost like she had slid across a carpet with socks on and then touched metal.

Finn felt like he jumped a mile high when he heard gravel crunching under car tires with his enhanced hearing. Elena looked at him, confused and opened her mouth to ask him what it was but he beat her to it.

“The others are here.” He told her.

“Jeremy.” Elena breathed and grabbed her skirts and began to run back towards the lake house.

Finn stood alone at the end of the dock, breathing heavily. _‘What the hell was that?’_ He thought to himself. 

—

“Jeremy!” Elena cried and lept into her brother’s arms. “I am so happy you’re safe. Thank you.” Elena told Liz.

“Of course, Elena.” Liz replied. “Although, I would like to know what is all going on.”

“I think we all do.” Klaus responded from the doorframe and Liz shot Elena a look.

“I will explain everything.” Elena told the sheriff.

“Meredith called.” Alaric said, coming onto the porch. “She said she had the results from all the tests, but I told her it can wait. I sent her out of town until this all blows over.”

Elena nodded, gratefully, at this and did not flinch when Finn slid his hand into hers.

“Wait, I remember you.” Liz recalled. “Finn, right?”

“Sheriff.” Finn acknowledged and shook his head in confirmation at her remembrance of his name.

“How do you fit into all of this?” Liz asked, not focusing on the fact that she had had another vampire directly under her nose.

“Sheriff Forbes meet my older brother.” Klaus smirked at the shocked look on Caroline’s mother’s face.

“Mom,” Caroline pushed past Klaus, shooting the hybrid a glare. “I know this must come as a shock to you, hell knows it was to Elena and me when Elijah first came to town, but we need to get inside now.”

Liz nodded and they all filed into the house and Finn looked around before spotting the stone table by a wooden bookshelf.

“Elijah.” He called to his brother and walked over by the bookshelf and got a good grip on it. “In case mother tries to enter, we need to barricade the doors and windows so that way we will have a head-start if they get past it.”

His younger brother nodded and turned to Klaus.

“Everyone that is able to, do what were doing.” Elijah commanded.

As the vampires went to work, Elena set off on a different mission. First she stopped in her room and grabbed three sets of clothes. She stopped and walked into the bathroom that was connected to the room.

She began the process of removing all the pins from her hair and brushed it out before pulling it back with a hair tie. Elena was glad the zipper of her dress was in a spot she could reach without needing help. The brunette pulled on a sports bra and a tank top with a loose beige sweater and leggings. Turning the water on, Elena did not let the water get warm as she washed her makeup off with cold water. 

Elena stood, not knowing how long she stared at herself in the mirror. She jumped when a fist came into contact with the door.

“Elena?” Caroline’s voice called from the other side.

The brunette slowly let her hand fall from her chest, where it was pressed over her heart. Elena moved to the door and opened it to see Caroline giving her a knowing look.

“I-uh, I got clothes for you.” Elena told her lamely, pointing to the two remaining sets of clothes.

“Elena, you know I am always here to talk to right?” Caroline asked as Elena shut the bedroom door so Caroline could change.

Elena focused on her pictures on the dresser in her room as Caroline gave her the space she needed by going into the bathroom. She smiled slightly at the picture of Jeremey’s tenth birthday party. Finn had been in town for about two months at that point. Elena knew that if she looked in the scrapbooks in her mom’s room she could find all sorts of pictures from that day. She picked up a picture of her and Finn, the eldest Mikaelson brother kneeing next to her.

Elena smiled softly as she looked at the younger version of herself, who was wrapped in a pink feather boa and a plastic tiara, even though it wasn’t even her birthday. Finn was hesitantly accepting the blue boa from her hands. She let out a small chuckle, remembering that he had wore the boa all day, while exchanging amused glances with her father as she dragged him around the party. The smile left her face the longer she stared at the picture.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Caroline’s voice asked softly by the doorframe.

“Why is it so easy for me to be with him, Care?” Elena asked. “I mean the last time I saw him, I was twelve and he was twenty-six. Now I am eighteen and he hasn’t aged a day. So, why isn’t it awkward between us?”

Caroline said nothing and set her’s and Elena’s dresses on the bed before walking over by her friend. Elena said nothing as Caroline wrapped her arms around her waist in a friendly hug.

“Because, he has been with you all these years, even if it wasn’t physically.” Caroline told her, resting her head on Elena’s shoulder. “You two are truly special, and things don’t have to be awkward like they are in the movies…You guys can be the exception.”

Elena nodded, accepting this answer before a smirk grew on her face.

“So, you came to the ball with Klaus.” Elena teased and Caroline’s eyes widened and hit Elena, playfully, in the shoulder.

“Elena! That isn’t friendship.” She gasped, but started laughing with Elena, since her laugh was so infectious. “Come on,” Caroline said and looped her arm with the brunette. “let’s get the rest of them clothes. Although it would be funny to see the oldest family in the world in dress clothes..in a log cabin.”

The two of them went throughout the bedrooms and managed to find clothes that would fit everyone…sort of. It took a while for everyone to change since there were only three bathrooms. In true Mikaelson fashion, everything had to be a competition for the younger three siblings. So Finn and Elijah let them battle it out for the master bathroom and quickly changed in the other ones.

Elena shifted on the loveseat she was sitting in when Finn came back.

“You know, for someone who was around during the time when leather pants and tunics were still in fashion, you pull off flannel very well.” Elena teased and leaned her head back into the crook of his shoulder. “I almost wish I had a blue feather…”

“Don’t mention that horrid thing ever again.” Finn cut her off.

“Don’t mention, what?” Klaus asked as the rest of the people began to file into the room.

Alaric, Kol and Rebekah were the only ones who looked shocked at the position the two friends were in. Caroline smiled at this and sat down next to her mom and Jeremy.

“Nothing.” Finn said sharply. 

“It’s a really funny story…” Caroline began as everyone took seats around the living room.

“Do you want me to tell Nik about your wedding book?” Finn snapped.

“I was twelve when I showed you that.” Caroline huffed and Elena laughed.

“I still remember it vividly.” Finn challenged and Caroline grumbled, sinking down in her seat.

“What’s this about a wedding book?” Klaus asked with a smirk on his face.

“Elena has one too!” Caroline shouted and pointed at her friend, trying to get the focus off of her.

“Caroline, ninety-five percent of the female population probably has one.” Elena said as she fondly rolled her eyes.

“Not that I don’t love the fact that we are having a completely normal conversation with many people who have tried to kill us, but why are we here?” Jeremy asked. 

“My mother was in the last coffin.” Finn explained. “After we were all reunited, she took me aside and explained her true intent. She wanted a way to get rid of the ‘evil’ she created, and the only way to do that was to link us all together.”

“How would she do that?” Rebekah asked, her voice wobbling a little bit.

Elena couldn’t help but sympathize with her in this moment, heck Isobel betrayed her multiple times and it hurt, and she was not even the woman Elena called ‘mom’.

“By using my blood.” Elena told her.

“Mother intended on using Elena’s blood to link us as she once used Tatia’s blood to turn us into vampires.” Finn continued, filling in parts Elena did not know. “And once she linked us she could kill one of us and the rest of us would go with them.”

“Of course, doing this would kill off the entire vampire race.” Elijah supplied and Liz gasped, grabbing her daughter’s hand.

“Don’t worry, Sheriff, none of us are linked until she has one of us willingly use our blood on the sacred parchment with all of our runes on it.” Finn assured her. “All we have to do is wait for the full moon to pass, and then we have a whole month to figure out a new plan.”

“And what’s to be sure one of you is not going to sacrifice yourselves?” Liz demanded.

“When she figured out her plan, she came to me.” Finn admitted and Elena grabbed the hand that was resting on his knee. “She knew of what I intended to do if I ever got free of the dagger’s hold once more. So, like the perfect mother she is, she lied to me, told me Elena was dead, and—well life is a little less bearable when you have no one to share it with.” Finn was silent for a few seconds before he looked up, straight into Liz’s eyes. “That woman told me my best friend was dead, Sheriff, she almost let me destroy what little family she has left and my entire family. So, you can be damned sure I am going to give it every fiber of my being to see that she goes strait to hell.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. Kol looked at his brother as if he was truly seeing him for the first time, and Rebekah looked at Elena with what looked like a small amount of respect.

“It is settled then,” Elijah finally spoke up from his arm chair. “None of us leave this house until we have a plan. We can’t risk our mother getting to any of us through one of you.”

“What about Bonnie?” Jeremy asked, concerned.

“Esther is drawing from the Bennett line, Jer, it is safe to say she is probably going to help Esther get rid of Klaus.” Elena explained.

“But we could tell her that if she kills Klaus it will kill Caroline.” Jeremy tried.

“She could be with Esther right now, for all we know, we could put her at risk by telling her and risk Esther overhearing.” Caroline said and gave his hand a small squeeze. “The best way to keep her safe, is to keep her out of the loop until the full moon passes.”

“So,” Alaric cleared his throat. “anybody got a plan to take down a thousand year old witch channeling her power from one of the most powerful witch families in history.”


	5. Some Things Are Worth Getting Your Heart Broken For

Elena walked out onto the porch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She stared out at the pinkish-grey sky and the horizon where there was a sliver of gold from the sun that was slowly rising.

They had been trying all night to come up with plans to stop Esther, and so far all they had was to kill a Bennett witch, and nobody wanted for it to get down to that…well over half the Mikaelson family might, but Elena was determined to find another way. She had to.

—

Bonnie and Abby walked towards the old witch house, eager to know how Esther planned on killing Klaus.

“Did you tell any of your friends the news?” Abby asked and Bonnie shook her head.

“I tried calling Elena and Caroline, but I got no answer.” Bonnie said puzzled.

“Bennett witches, thank you for coming.” Esther said calmly as she came out of the house. “I can think of no better allies than the woman who sent Mikael into his long sleep and the girl who fought Niklaus so bravely.”

“Why exactly did you invite us here?” Abby asked.

“You are descendants of the witch Ayana.” Esther answered. “She was a great mentor of mine, and I think it’s only fitting that I draw from her bloodline.”

“So are you channeling our ancestors?” Bonnie asked.

“I draw from the entirety of the Bennett bloodline, living and dead.” Esther explained. “The connection affords me great power, although it is somewhat difficult to maintain, which is why I require you, mother and daughter, the bloodline made manifest. Tonight, my sisters,” Esther told them and grabbed their hands. “we shall bring peace to the spirits of nature that we serve, and for that, I thank you.”

“So how is this going to work?” Abby asked.

“We should wait for the others.” Esther told them.

“Others?” Bonnie asked.

“Don’t need to wait for me, Mama Original, I am on time for class for once.” Damon said sarcastically as him and Stefan came to a stop next to the others.

“You’re helping?” Bonnie asked in disbelief, her eyebrows raising and Damon frowned.

“I help.” Damon protested.

“Only when there is something in it for you.” Bonnie pointed out. “So, tell me, what do you exactly get out of this?”

“Elena.” Damon said after a minute.

“What?” Bonnie asked, taking a step back in confusion and shock.

“I called the number you gave me, she is on her way here now to get the address I know Flynn to be at.” 

Damon ignored Bonnie and told Esther, for he knew that she would go racing to help Elena if she knew the truth, no matter what kind of beef she had with Klaus. Those girls were tricky like that, they would always want the other to be happy no matter what the cost. Nobody even tried to correct Damon’s jab at Finn anymore. 

“You could have mentioned that it was my boxing buddy from back in the day.” Damon continued, sarcastically.

“Would it have made any difference?” Esther asked.

“Fair enough.” Damon muttered. “We can’t tell her about the whole murdering her ‘true love’ thing, cause I doubt that will motivate her to help us.”

“My exact thoughts.” Esther agreed. “We use the girls to get Finn here and the rest will be history.”

Esther withheld the fact that killing her children would result in his death as well, but she had to do what needed to be done. Just like Damon was doing by not telling Bonnie of Elena’s involvement in this whole mess.

“You sure this will work?” Damon asked, squinting against the sun at the old witch house.

“It has to.” Esther replied.

—

Elena had to have been out there for a solid hour before she heard the screen door open.

“It’s not safe to be out here.” Finn told her as he came to a stop beside her.

“Klaus got in contact with one of his witches, they spelled the whole place so Esther cannot enter the house and that includes this porch.” Elena reminded him.

“But that does not mean she won’t send someone else.” Finn pointed out, leaning back against the railing of the porch.

“I guess I just wanted to watch the sunrise for a little bit.” Elena admitted and Finn turned his head slightly to watch it as well, as Elena let a small smile graze her face. “My dad used to wake me up early in the morning and we used to come out here and simply watch the sun come up. I used to think I was so special because he would let Jeremy sleep.”

Elena turned to smile at Finn, and he returned it, but held a fair amount of pain in it. This made Elena’s heart beat faster and she walked in front of him.

“What is it?” She asked quietly, knowing he could hear her.

“We have something.” Finn told her.

“And by your tone, I don’t think it is a good thing.” Elena responded skeptically.

Finn did not respond but dug into the inside pocket of his suit coat, which looked funny with the flannel and jeans he was wearing, but it was cold out so Elena did not blame him for it was the only jacket he had. The oldest vampire pulled out something that made Elena’s heart shoot down to her stomach.

“No.” She whispered and shook her head. “That is not an option.”

“It may be the only one we have.” Finn told her. “She can’t link us if she can’t get us. Elena, this is our last resort, just until the full moon passes.”

Finn placed the dagger in her hand and closed her fingers around the hilt. Elena looked down at the dagger before into her best friend’s eyes.

“Finn, you just got free of this thing.” Elena reminded him. 

“I know, but if I trust anyone with this dagger, it is you.” Finn told her, never breaking eye contact with her.

“I hope to never have to use this.” Elena muttered.

She lifted her sweater and tank top to secure the dagger in her leggings. Finn adverted his eyes at the now exposed skin of her stomach, ignoring the heat that surged through him. Elena fixed her clothes, making sure the danger could not be seen, and looked up at Finn.

“Hey.” She called softly, and used her hand to make him look at her. “Promise me, that we are going to exhaust every other possibility before we use the dagger.”

“As long as you promise to be the one to put me down if it comes to it.” Finn countered.

The pair held eye contact for a minute before Elena, reluctantly, nodded. She stepped in between his legs to lean against his chest, and Finn wrapped his arms around her.

“I don’t like this.” She muttered against his chest.

“None of us do, but I am the most vulnerable with you by my side, and I’d rather spend the foreseeable future in a box then see you loose everyone you care about.” Finn spoke softly.

“It’s unfair, I could save the entire vampire race but loose you.” Elena said and she felt tears well into her eyes.

“Hey.” Finn told her and released her and grabbed her face between his hands. “It will only be a short period of time. I know you, Elena Gilbert, you are too stubborn to let me rest in a coffin for the rest of your life.”

Finn dared not tell her of his fear that there may never be a time for him to come out of the dagger’s hold until long after she was dead. They spent years running from their father and Nik, Bekah, and ‘Lijah continued to run for centuries to come.

Their mother was more determined than their father when it came to something she set her mind to. Mikael took time off of the hunt to mourn Freya, twice a year, once on her birthday and on the day she ‘died’.

“But if worst comes to worst and you can’t find a way to get me out of this, I want you to live a life and never look back.” Finn requested.

“Don’t talk like that, okay, we’re going to find a way around this.” Elena told him putting her hands over his that still cupped her face.

“But if we don’t…” Finn started.

“Stop that!” Elena demanded and took a step back, causing Finn to stop leaning on the railing and stand at his full height. “I spent the last six years looking for you, and I just got you back, so I will be damned if I let some thousand year old witch with a savior complex take you away from me.” 

Elena finished her declaration and was breathing heavily from getting her sentence out in one breath. Finn stood there in shock or admiration, Elena wasn’t quite sure, but what she was sure of was that he was very close. Closer than she should be comfortable with, but that was the thing that puzzled her to no belief. She wanted him close, wanted him to never leave this spot with her.

Elena never realized how handsome he actually was, but in her defense the last time she saw him, she thought boys had cooties. The brunette let her eyes dash down to his lips and wished she hadn’t, because now she was captivated by them. _This is wrong_ , her brain told her, _the last time you saw him he was only a decade younger than your father_. But all sense of normality in her love life flew out the window the moment she began seeing Stefan.

The brunette let her eyes flick back up to Finn’s and she began to rise up on her toes, slowly inching her way to closing the gap between them. The Original knew he wanted nothing more than to give into the temptations that had been building up inside of him since last night. Finn felt himself inching closer to her as well, not noticing how she was getting closer to him. If he had he may not have done what he did next. 

Her lips barely touched his when she felt a flash of wind and she was standing alone on the porch.

—

“Sage.” Damon greeted with a smirk. “My hottest teacher.”

“Damon.” Sage greeted. “My favorite student.”

“Who’s this?” Damon asked at the man next to her.

“This is Troy, he’s a friend.” Sage informed her friend.

“Damon Salvatore.” Damon said and stuck out his hand.

“I know.” Troy responded and shook his hand, and at Damon’s confused face, he elaborated. “Sage likes to brag about her students.”

“Aww, you love me.” Damon teased and Sage shook her head with a laugh and a smile.

“You’re lucky I was already on my way here when you called.” Sage told Damon the smile still on her face.

“Well after Esther over here told me about Finn and your’s past, I figured the least I can do is help you get back to him.” Damon spoke in his usual ‘Damon’ tone and this caused Bonnie to roll her eyes.

“You never want to help anyone.” Sage smirked. “So why start now?”

“Because, six years ago Finn got out of his sleeping beauty curse.” Damon explained.

“What?” Sage asked, shock coming into her usually confident tone.

Bonnie’s eyes widened at that and suddenly she remembered Elena’s friend Finn from when they were children. She also remembered when Elijah strolled into town, Elena was dead set on helping him find his family. Bonnie had always assumed it was part of the deal she made with the Original, but now she realized it was because Finn was Elijah’s brother, and Bonnie felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. After all Elijah looked a lot like the memory she had of Finn.

“Yep, and guess where he hid out?” Damon asked rhetorically and pointed to the ground, symbolizing his town.

“He must not have been out for very long, or else he would have come for me.” Sage told Damon.

“Or he got distracted.” Damon stated. “He was apparently out for a whole entire summer. Three months or more, Sage.”

“You’re lying.” Sage said in disbelief and a hint of anger.

“Oh, yeah?” Damon asked rhetorically. “Tell me Bon-Bon, how close was he with the woman I love?”

“He-uh, was her best friend.” Bonnie stuttered. “She loved him, and the feeling was mutual.”

“Ding-Ding-Ding, give the woman a prize.” Damon said.

“But the way the little girl makes it sound was that it was simply a friendship. I knew Finn quite well and well, she doesn’t sound like she was quite his age.” Sage smirked.

“You sure about that, Finn’s what, twenty-six…twenty-seven to the average eye, Elena’s eighteen now, Sage.” Damon told her. “And what I have seen from the other night was entirely different than just a platonic friendship, but…”

“‘But’ what, Damon?” Sage snapped in a calm and collected way.

“If we were to nip it in the bud, before they had a chance to discover how they feel about each other…Think about it Sage, we just need to get Finn back to you and then he will forget all about Elena, and I’m back in the game and my only competition is Mr. Brooding-McHero Hair over here.” Damon mocked and threw his thumb over his shoulder to point to his brother.

“What’s this address?” Sage responded, a smile on her face.

“2104 Dunham Lake Road.” Damon recited.

“But we must wait until sunset.” Esther told her.

“Why?” Sage asked, outraged. “I have waited nine hundred years to be reunited with the love of my life, and I am not going to loose him to a _little girl_.” The red head sneered.

“All I need to do is grab the doppelgänger. Once I have her I can undo the evil I created and you will be reunited with Finn.” Esther explained.

“Get the doppelgänger, you get rid of Klaus, I get Finn and you get Elena.” Sage recited what everyone got out of it.

“Exactly.” Esther spoke easily and Damon was even convinced that was all she planned on doing for a second.

Bonnie felt sick to her stomach and grabbed her mom’s arm, using the distraction the other vampires and witch were in to go across the field and basically talk without being heard.

“Mom, we can’t do this.” Bonnie whispered.

“What? Bonnie you know we have to…We have to get rid of Klaus.” Abby reminded her.

“But I can’t get rid of Klaus knowing that means that Elena will loose Finn again.” Bonnie told her. “Now that I think back, a part of her has always loved him and now that she is older, it has become more romantic. I can’t do that to her.”

“Bonnie, Elena is young, much like yourself. She will find love again, this will save countless lives, the choice is yours.” Abby gave Bonnie her ultimatum and walked back over by Damon, Stefan, Sage, and Esther.

—

Finn paced in the woods, _how could he have been so stupid_. Turning around, he used all of his strength and punched a tree, earning an angry squawk from a bird that had been perched on top of it. He glared up as the bird flew off, continuing to yell at the Original. The sun was beginning to set and Finn knew that he should be inside helping them instead of being in the woods all day, but he couldn’t help it, his thoughts just would not stop flowing.

Elena was his best friend and the last time he saw her she was twelve and he had been twenty-six. At that time he would never have even thought of her in that way ever, people who did were truly perverted, but now everything was different. She was a grown woman who was less than a decade younger than him, and this change was seeming to affect their friendship. And the worst part of it all was that Finn didn’t want to care, he wanted nothing more than to go back to the porch by Elena and finish what he started.

He thought to Sage, the woman he met oh so long ago. The deep love he forged with her, how he abandoned his own morals for her. If this love was so strong, then why didn’t he go looking for her. His brain came up with reasonable excuses for this like, _she had moved on with someone else or she was dead, but his heart told him that wasn’t the case_. When he woke up the first time, the first thing that came to his mind was he had to escape Niklaus, and the second time was to find the brunette with a heart of gold.

“Finn?” The voice he had dreamed about for the last six years called and he used his speed to hide behind the tree. “Finn, come on, I know you are out here. Please, I just want to talk.”

Finn sighed and leaned his head against the tree. Option one would be to just hide out here until she gave up, or option two, he could face the facts of what he did and hope that she would want to continue being friends with him.

“Elena.” He called reluctantly, letting his eyes close as he let his head remain against the tree, the bark pressing into his back.

Elena walked towards his voice, trying to ignore the chill of the dagger’s blade against her skin. All of it had been too much, causing her to throw caution to the wind and act on the heat of the moment. Now she risked loosing her friend because she desperately wanted to throw said caution to the wind. When she rounded the tree, the fear that was flowing through her skyrocketed.

“Listen about earlier…” She began shakily.

“Was wrong.” Finn cut her off, and if his eyes would have been open, he would have noticed the hurt look on her face.

“Yeah.” Elena nodded, pushing her hair behind her ear and crossed her arms. “Of course. So the others may have an idea, they wanted me to get you.”

Finn’s eyebrows furrowed and he dared a glance at Elena to see that she was not good at hiding the pain on her face. Suddenly everything was so clear, maybe whatever was happening to him was not as one-sided as he previously thought.

“Elena…” He started, noticing that her bottom lip was beginning to involuntarily wobble.

“Could you tell Caroline I will be inside in a minute, I just need to take care of something?” Elena asked and Finn moved to open his mouth. “Please?”

He continued to look at her for a moment, before he hesitantly put his hand against her cheek. Despite the feelings that were coursing through her, she leaned into his touch but in doing so, her lip trembled even more.

“Of course.” Finn whispered in pain, knowing things were forever changed between them.

Elena waited two minutes after he was gone to break down. She slid down the tree and let her head fall into her hands. Why couldn’t things have just been the way they had been when she was younger? It took her a moment to realize that she didn’t want things the way they had been, she wanted it the way it was now.

When she first met Stefan, she thought she had found the perfect man to stick by her forever. He was sweet, kind, caring, compassionate, and had a heart of gold. Then Elijah rolled into town and Elena figured out what truly happened to Finn, and that had to be the moment that set her on the path away from Stefan, even if she hadn’t noticed.

Even if it wasn’t the typical love story, Elena was willing to give it a shot, she really only had one life, it was time she started throwing caution to the wind. After all, some things were worth getting your heart broken for. Wiping her eyes of tears, she stood up and brushed her hands on her leggings. The brunette had taken two steps when she heard the snap of a twig, she turned around to see a familiar pair of green eyes.

“Elena.” Stefan greeted, but there was something off about it.

“What do you want, Stefan?” Elena asked and her hand hovered by a loose tree branch, ready to use it if necessary.

“So this is her, huh?” A voice asked and Elena turned to see one of the most gorgeous redheads looking at her. “Can I kill her now?"

“You know the rules, Sage, she needs to stay alive.” Stefan told her, but the redhead continued to glare at Elena.

“Sage?” Elena repeated. “Finn talked about you sometimes.”

“Oh did he now?” Sage mocked. “He talked about the ex with the Mrs., how cute.”

“What?” Elena asked, confused.

“Wow, you really are blind to your own emotions, aren’t you?” Sage continued to mock her.

“Enough, both of you.” Stefan cut in, looking like he would rather be anywhere but there.

“Stefan, what is going on?” Elena asked, her heart beginning to beat faster.

“Elena, we have a way to get rid of Klaus, but it needs you.” Stefan told her.

“Stefan, listen to me, Esther is playing you to get what she wants.” Elena explained, slowly backing away from the two vampires.

“But what if what she wants is what I want?” Stefan countered.

“Leave me out of it then.” Elena spoke quickly. “You always trusted me to make my own decisions, please trust me now.”

“Sorry, Elena, no can do.” Stefan said and took a step towards her.

That was all it took for Elena to break into a run. She didn’t get very far before Sage flashed in front of her. Elena turned around to see a man she never met before smirk at her, and Stefan walking up behind him, towards her.

“FINN!” She screamed before everything went dark.

—

“FINN!” A scream tore from the woods and all the vampires shot up and out of the house, forgetting the reason they had been hiding out in the house.

Suddenly they were all clutching their heads and they turned around to see Esther standing there with Bonnie, Abby, and Damon.

“Bonnie?” Caroline asked, betrayal clear in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Care, but he has to go.” Bonnie said heartbreakingly and looked over at Klaus.

“Say the word, luv, and their all dead.” Klaus growled.

“Not yet, brother.” Elijah answered for Caroline, since the blonde was still processing Bonnie’s loyalty in the matter.

Finn found himself glaring at Damon and the raven haired vampire was returning the glare. Slowly he broke the glare and focused it on his mother.

“Where’s Elena?” Finn demanded.

“Safe.” Esther told him. “And she will remain so if you follow your mother’s orders.”

“And if I don’t?” Finn countered.

“I will kill her.” Esther stated simply.

“Even you wouldn’t be that cruel.” Finn whispered in shock.

“I have been planning this for a thousand years.” Esther spat. “You have no idea what I am capable of anymore, my son.” Esther did not seem appalled by the brokenness on her eldest son’s face. “If you choose not to do the linking, you will loose Elena, but you will have that of which you _love_.” Esther mocked, knowing where her son’s heart truly rested, and she knew he would do anything to protect it, even if it meant the end of him.

Finn looked over to see what his mother was staring at, he was not expecting to see the woman he loved long ago standing with a man that had black hair. Sage was still as radiant as the day he first met her, but there was something wrong with the scene in front of him.

“Hello, Finn.” She greeted, hope and happiness clear in her voice.

“Um, who’s this?” Caroline asked.

“Her name is Sage.” Klaus told her, hatred for his mother swelling because he knew what this was going to do to his brother. “She was the only vampire Finn ever created…and the only woman he ever loved.”

“Okay, I just have one question.” Damon mocked. “How could you, my hottest teacher, love…I actually don’t have a nickname for once?” Damon finished, clearly in awe of not having a nickname in his narcissist mind. “So, I guess we’ll stick with Flynn.”

“You truly are something else.” The man standing next to Sage chuckled, but Finn studied Damon.

“How do you two know each other?” Finn asked, Sage looked down while Damon simply smirked.

“Didn’t know I was friends with you ickle girlfriend?” Damon mocked.

“Damon.” Sage snapped before looking at the man she loved. “You have to understand, you were gone for 900 years, and you know I love living life to the fullest, but my heart always was with you.”

“What else have you done while I was ‘ _gone_ ’?” Finn asked, eyeing the man who stood by Sage.

“I had to protect us, I mean look around, Finn, all of these people want you dead.” Sage exclaimed.

“Not all of them.” Caroline defended, her blue eyes icing up.

“Only because he holds your friend’s life in his hand, otherwise you would eventually turn on him.” Sage told her.

“No I want him to live because he is my friend and if you knew me, you would know that I protect my friends, no matter what.” Caroline snapped back.

“So, my son, what is your choice?” Esther asked, growing impatient with Finn.

“Don’t do it, brother.” Kol said quickly from his spot next to Rebekah.

Finn looked as if he was personally having world war three with himself. His eyes flickered between Sage, his mother, and his siblings and friends. 

“You’re working with her?” Finn asked Sage, needing all the facts before he made a decision.

“Only to find you.” Sage insisted.

“To ensure my death sentence.” Finn pointed out.

“What?” Sage asked, shock reigning supreme in her tone.

Finn looked over at his mother and chuckled.

“You didn’t tell her.” Finn hissed before he looked at Sage. “To kill Niklaus is to kill us all.” He said and extended his hand towards his siblings.

“I didn’t need to.” Esther spoke calmly. “For I knew Elena Gilbert had the power to make you forget your morals, as Sage once did,” Sage looked as if someone had kicked her puppy and then compelled her to kick the puppy. “and I knew your fears would push her away. Once I had her, my plan was set in stone.”

Finn looked over to Elijah, who nodded at him. If anyone could understand his morals, and what he had to do, it was his little brother. They would figure this out, but it would have to be without him. Finn sighed and began to walk towards his mother.

“Finn!” Sage called and took a step towards him before the man grabbed her arm. “Troy, let go of me!”

“I am sorry, but I can’t let her die.” Finn told Sage, who looked like she had just lost the love of her life, which she did in a sense.

Finn walked over to Esther and discreetly grabbed Bonnie’s hand. He felt the witch tense up, and he sent a wave of relief to her.

_**Bonnie**_ , he transferred his thoughts into her head as Sage argued with his mother, _**nod your head slowly if you can hear me.**_ The witch nodded her head and Finn let out a sigh of relief. _**Do not tell your mother or the Salvatores any of this, I am not sure who to trust.**_

_**You have my word.**_ Bonnie swore to him.

_**I need you to make up some excuse to go home, I gave your grandmother a grimoire with an unlinking spell the last time I was in town. It was from my mother’s friend Ayana, she was compassionate like you, so she gave it to me just in case a situation like this ever arose. Bonnie, my mother has withheld information from you, if an Original dies, so does everyone from their sire line.**_ Finn told her.

_**But what about you?**_ Bonnie’s voice called in his head.

_**I am not the head of the sire line Caroline and Tyler come from. I’d rather have Elena loose me than have her loose the majority of her family.**_ Finn told her.

_**You can’t leave her again.**_ Bonnie protested.

_**I don’t want to leave her, but it is the only option right now. Promise me, Bonnie, if it comes down to me or everyone else you will do what needs to be done.**_ Finn told her.

_**I don’t even know where to begin looking.**_ Bonnie told him.

_**I will buy you as much time as I can, Elijah is going to go get Elena, I just need you to tell me where she is.**_ Finn pleaded.

_**The old witch house.**_ Bonnie stated immediately.

_**Okay, one last thing.**_ Finn told her.

_**Anything.**_ Bonnie said, wanting to redeem her actions.

_**Promise me, Bonnie, if it comes down to me or everyone else, you will do what needs to be done.**_ Finn demanded.

_**Bonnie, please.**_ Finn begged.

_**Fine, I promise.**_ Bonnie agreed brokenly.

Finn looked at his mother and let go of Bonnie’s hand before anyone noticed.

“If I am to go with you, at least let me give Caroline a message for Elena.” Finn begged his mother.

“You can tell her when she watches you sacrifice your life to undo the evil I created.” Esther informed her son, grabbing his arm.

“I do not want you to hear anything of what I tell her, you do not deserve it.” Finn hissed and ripped his arm out of her grasp.

“Fine.” Esther growled. “Make it quick.”

He crossed the space between the two sides quickly. When he reached Caroline, he brought her into a hug, using his supernatural abilities just like he used them on Bonnie.

_**Caroline, I need you to listen to me very carefully, Elena is at the old witch house. It is probably the same place where the ritual is going to take place. I need you to send Elijah to get her out of there, and have Niklaus, Kol, and Rebekah work on taking out my mother.**_ Finn told her.

_**But, what if I can’t stop her before she kills you all?**_ Caroline asked.

_**All I need is the word she is safe and I am out of there, but plan B is for Bonnie to unlink us so that way only I would die.**_ Finn told her.

_**Elena can’t loose you again, she just got you back.**_ Caroline told him.

_**I’ll tell you what I told Bonnie. I would rather have her loose me than loose all of you.**_ Finn repeated.

_**But she’s lost so much already, this might break her.**_ Caroline warned him.

_**Then it is a good thing you will be here to make sure that doesn’t happen.**_ Finn told her, even though it killed him to do it. _**Do me a favor keep the Salvatore’s and Bonnie’s mother out of this, this plan has too many ways it can go wrong already.**_

_**I will.**_ Caroline told him. _**I will see you on the other side of this, I just have a feeling.**_

_**Caroline Forbes, I am so glad I had the pleasure of meeting you.**_ Finn said and broke the hug.

He walked over by his mother, and tried to ignore the judgmental glares of his younger siblings. They would understand soon enough, he only hoped he would be alive to make amends with them.

“Alright,” Esther smiled brightly, not knowing what her son had told Bonnie and Caroline. “it is finally time to end the evil I created.”


	6. You and I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update, it has just been so busy in my house with Christmas and Finals.
> 
> \--
> 
> A good song to listen to while reading this chapter is “You and I” by PVRIS. It was the song I listened to when I was trying to figure out a title for the chapter.

Elena groaned as she woke up on the dirt floor, looking around it did not take her long to figure out she was in the old witch house. She out the window to see that it was dark outside.

“It’ll happen in roughly thirty minutes.” She looked over to see Stefan standing there, leaning against the doorframe.

“No it won’t.” Elena told him. “They are all together, none of them will make the sacrifice.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Stefan told her and inclined his head towards the door.

As if they had timed it the door opened and Esther walked through, she smiled at Elena and held the door open for someone else. Elena’s heart dropped to her stomach as Finn followed her into the room.

“Finn!” She shouted and went to run to her friend.

Stefan shot up and grabbed her arm, yanking her back into his side, trying to ignore the pain that stabbed his heart at the tone Elena had just used when the eldest Original walked in. Finn’s eyes narrowed and he lunged at Stefan, before he fell to his knees, grasping his head in pain. Esther lowered her hand after a moment.

“Is everyone finished?” Esther asked as Finn’s eyes locked with Elena’s.

‘I’m sorry’ He mouthed and Elena shook her head in heartbreak, but knew she would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.

Elena could not help but think they would not be here if she had not been so careless. Now, because of her stupid feelings, her friend was going to die along with many others she had come to call family.

Esther smiled at the silence and reached over to part of the house and pulled out an old piece of parchment with ancient runes written on them. The Original Witch held out her hand and her son placed his, palm up, on top of hers. Elena winced as the blade Esther was holding sliced the skin on Finn’s hand open, causing blood to spill on the page.

Esther began to chant holding Finn’s hand, the blood began to crawl across the paper, covering each name written on it. Slowly there were trails of blood spread across the parchment in the shape of the tree.

“The link is complete.” Esther said with a smile.

Distracted by the power that flew through her, Esther let her grip on Finn’s hand weaken. Finn used this to his advantage. In one swift move, he used his supernatural speed to shove his mother against the wall, knocking her unconscious. He then turned to Stefan, snapping his neck and sending him through the wall. Finn then wrapped his arm around Elena’s waist, fleeing from the room.

When they came to a stop outside, Elena saw Elijah standing over Damon, Sage, and Troy’s unconscious forms. Finn slowed to a brisk walk, never pulling his arm away from where it rested at her waist.

“You need to get her out of here now and to somewhere safe.” Finn ordered his younger brother and Elijah nodded.

“What about you?” Elena asked.

“Someone needs to slow her down.” Finn told her.

“No, I am not leaving you.” Elena choked out, shaking her head.

“Despite how I treated you the last few hours?” Finn asked and Elena nodded.

“Despite everything.” She confirmed.

Finn smiled sadly and placed his hand on her cheek, and Elena leaned into his touch. 

Elijah cleared his throat and Finn found that his little brother looked extremely uncomfortable. Finn also felt a little awkward since he forgot his brother was there. 

“I love self-sacrifice as much as anyone else in our family, but Elena is right, brother, this is not a good idea.” Elijah informed him.

“I know.” Finn agreed. “So tell our family to pack their bags.” Finn told them. “If I manage to somehow make it out of here, we will need to run until Bonnie finds the unlinking spell and we find a way to take out mother.”

Sage shifted and the brothers knew it was only going to be a few moments before she woke and the others followed her lead.

“Get her out of here.” Finn told Elijah, not having a chance to come up with a more solid plan since their time was out.

“Finn…” Elena began.

“Elena, you need to go, I will see you again.” Finn told her and no one moved for a second, for they knew that he very well could be lying unknowingly. “Go.” He ordered and Elena reluctantly went over to Elijah as the flashed out of sight.

“Oh, it’s my favorite dream, Elijah 2.0 is here.” Damon groaned sarcastically as he slowly stood up.

“Listen to me and listen good.” Finn growled, paying no attention to Sage or Troy. “You kill an Original, you kill their entire sire line.”

“So?” Damon asked.

“I die, my siblings die…every vampire in the world will die.” Finn seethed.

“Does your mother know about this?” Damon asked as realization hit.

Hatred towards Finn still remained in his eyes, but Finn knew that self preservation was stronger than Damon’s hatred towards him at the moment.

“Yes, she was willing to do whatever it took to get rid of my family.” Finn told him.

“Alright, so how do we stop this?” Troy asked, finding it surprisingly easy to switch sides in a war like this.

“Well one way would be to kill a Bennett witch, dead witch would sever the link.” Finn explained.

“Great!” Damon exclaimed. “Let’s do that.”

“No.” Finn said in a firm voice and Damon furrowed his eyebrows in anger and confusion.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” Damon seethed. “We have our way to end this stupid ritual, and you’re telling me I can’t do it!”

“Severing the link would mean that the ritual could not be completed tonight.” Finn explained. “My mother would just find another way, since it would not sever the link between myself and my siblings. So, I would like Elena to have one friend left if this all goes south, don’t you agree?”

“Only for Elena.” Damon growled.

“Trust me, I’ve heard stories about you that make me want to tear every organ from your body.” Finn hissed. “Elena is the only reason you’re not dead right now.”

“Oh, so she told you stories of the big bad wolf?” Damon mocked, masking his hurt well.

“Caroline did.” Finn told him. “You are one lucky son of a bitch that I have not told Niklaus yet. Good luck escaping him, Miss. Pierce tried for 500 years, yet she could never manage to rest for very long.”

“Enough!” Sage demanded, having enough of the fight between two of her former lovers. “None of this is helping anyone. Now, Finn, you said there was another way, how is that?”

“Right now, all we can do is run.” Finn glanced nervously towards the house, waiting for his mother to appear, but he still heard the beating of an unconscious heart.

“Seriously?” Damon exclaimed. “Run, that’s your plan?”

“You got a better one?” Finn challenged. “She wants nothing more than to see the end to us, so for now we go to the farthest reaches of the Earth…”

“We?” Damon asked.

“Our mother is just as cunning as our father was, except she is better at hiding it.” Finn explained. “The difference between when we ran from our father and running from our mother now is attachments.”

“Attachments?” Damon questioned and Finn rolled his eyes.

“Caroline, Elena, Matthew, Jeremy, the list goes on.” Finn elaborated. “They need to be kept safe.”

“You ran from Mikael for a thousand years, are you ready to do that again?” Damon snarked.

The raven haired Salvatore tried his best to mask the anger he felt towards the eldest Original for taking the woman he loved away from him. First he stole her love and now he was physically taking her away.

“I’ll do anything to keep her safe, mark my words.” Finn promised.

For a short moment, Damon respected the oldest Mikaelson sibling, though he would never admit it, since he was still upset about the fact that Finn was leaving with the love of his life. Damon hid his emotions from the others and gave a short nod.

“You better go before your mummy wakes up.” He warned, looking at the house.

“How long will you be gone?” Sage asked.

She had waited centuries for this man, and now he was leaving her with a young brunette on his arm. Sage knew deep down they were too different, but she wanted to have that burning romance she had experienced as a young village girl who had fallen in love with a noble stranger.

“I don’t know.” Finn answered honestly, glancing nervously back at the house. “I have to go.” He told the three vampires.

“Just be careful, our lives ride on your back.” Troy reminded him.

“Don’t remind me.” Finn muttered and vanished into the night.

—

“Elena!” Caroline cried.

The blonde called from the lake house as she ran down the stairs, Klaus not far behind her, and if Elena did not feel like her world was falling apart, she would have smiled.

“Hey, Care.” Elena greeted and, tiredly, hugged her friend.

“Niklaus.” Elijah let the two girls continue to hug as he stepped around them to get to his brother. “We need to pack our bags.”

“Where’s our brother?” Klaus countered, speaking in a voice where Elena could not hear him.

He knew the answer would not be good because Elena looked as if she was about to unravel completely. Klaus was still getting used to the fact that his brother was best friends with the Doppelgänger. What shocked him even more was the love the pair shared. Whether Finn and Elena had realized that love was unknown to him. He knew what losing a love like that could do to a person, and it was a pain no one should experience, especially someone like Elena, who had already lost so much.

“Giving us a head start.” Elijah responded with no emotion, for if he did, he was sure that it would stress Elena out even more.

Elijah cared deeply for Elena, he considered her to be one of his best friends, and did not want to see what this loss would do to her. It already seemed as if she was a blow away from shattering and Finn was not even dead yet.

“The link is already complete brother,” Elijah continued. “mother will not stop until we are dead. So, we need to run.”

“If Finn is still with mother, why even run, we’re dead anyway.” Klaus countered.

“Oh ye of little faith, brother.” A familiar voice stated, and Klaus could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

“Finn.” Elena sighed in relief, leaving Caroline’s embrace and pulling Finn into a hug.

“So, we run?” Klaus asked his elder brothers, a smile tugging at his own lips.

“Just until Bonnie finds the spell.” Finn said.

“I got these.” Kol said as he came down the stairs, holding several small objects in his hand.

Finn looked at Elijah in confusion, and Kol chuckled.

“The Bennett witch told us we may need to run, so ‘Bekah and I went to the gas station and picked up these things called burner phones.” Kol explained, handing one to Elijah, Klaus and Finn. “Also, ‘Bekah is packing our bags.” Kol mumbled.

“Oh, bloody hell!” Klaus exclaimed, taking off back towards the house. 

—

20 minutes later everyone was packed and saying goodbye, ready to split up until they could find a more permanent solution. 

“Come with us.” Elena pleaded with Jeremy as she hugged him.

“You know I can’t.” Jeremy told her.

“You have to, please.” Elena persisted. 

“If the whole family is together, it may be easier for Esther to track us,” Jeremy told her. “and because of Katherine having similar DNA, it will be easier for you to hide without me.”

“I don’t like this.” Elena grumbled as she held onto her little brother tighter.

“He’ll be safe with me.” Kol informed her and Elena let go of Jeremy.

Silently, she stalked over to him, her eyes were lit ablaze with emotions. Finn chuckled at the sight of his little brother looking extremely nervous for the first time in centuries. It came to his attention that the only women who unnerved his playboy of a brother was Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert.

“You better hope you’re right, because if anything happens to him, you will have wished your mother killed you. Got it?” Elena said in one breath and Kol nodded quickly.

Elena nodded, satisfied with the reaction she got from Kol and turned towards Alaric and Liz.

“Is there anyway I can convince you to come with one of us?” She asked the two people she saw as parental figures.

“Someone needs to help Bonnie surf through all those spells.” Alaric told her as he hugged her, and Liz hugged Caroline. “Everything will be okay, Elena.”

“I hope so.” Elena said and moved over towards Liz, bringing the older woman into a hug since Caroline was now done.

“Take care of her.” Alaric whispered, knowing Finn could hear him, and the oldest Original nodded.

“What about you?” Elena asked the woman who had, in many ways, become a mother to her.

“Oh Caroline has already tried to win that battle, Elena.” Liz smiled warmly at her daughter’s best friend. “I have lived my entire life with the supernatural breathing down my neck, I’m not going to run now. Besides someone needs to make sure he stays out of trouble.”

Alaric playfully rolled his eyes as Liz pointed at him. Elena chuckled and brought the Sheriff into another hug, knowing there was no changing her mind.

“Stay safe.” Elena told Liz before moving on to hug Caroline. “You too.”

“Trust me, if there is any part of me that is not safe, it is my sanity.” Caroline teased and Elena stifled a laugh and looked at Klaus, who did not look amused. 

“Well, you know my number, if you need to vent.” Elena reminded her.

Klaus had taken care of programing the other numbers into the temporary phones, so that way if something happened to anyone, everyone would have a heads up.

“You too.” Caroline told her.

“We need to go, mother will not be playing nice anymore.” Finn announced.

“Okay.” Elena said and took a deep breath, and everyone took off towards their respective cars.

They were separating into groups of two, that way they would be discreet, and not gain Esther’s attention. Group one consisted of Elena and Finn. Group two was comprised of Caroline and Klaus. Group three was Rebekah and Matt. Group four consisted of Kol and Jeremy. All of them got new cars, courtesy of compulsion, and were heading to different parts of the country. 

Alaric and Liz were staying behind to keep the town safe and help Bonnie. Damon and Sage were going to stall Esther for as long as they could, as Troy tried to warn as many vampires as he could. Meredith had called to say that she was on her way back, she wanted to help Ric and make sure he stayed safe after being attacked like he had. Sage and Damon did not like the fact that the love of their lives, who happened to be unknowingly in love with each other, were going on the run together. However, they had to work with what they could get. It was unsure where Stefan stood on the matter, so Damon was instructed not to tell his brother anything.

“You know, I am going to have to teach you how to drive one of these at some point.” Elena teased as she climbed in the driver’s seat and Finn sat in the passenger’s.

Neither one of them had mentioned the almost kiss on the porch, neither of them wanted to either. Considering the last time they avoided talking about it, Elena was taken by his mother. So, Elena knew that they had to talk about it eventually, however, they were both too nervous to bring it up.

“I look forward to it.” Finn smiled softly at her.

Elena decided that they didn’t need to talk about it today, after all, they were all going to be on the run from his mother for the foreseeable future. She had her best friend and the open road, she would worry about everything else tomorrow.


	7. All I Want

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the story rating to explicit since there is smut in this chapter just to be safe. I have never really written smut before, so please be kind.

They had been on the run for a little under a month now, and Elena could not figure out how the Originals had done this for a thousand years. Maybe it was because she was human, or maybe it was simply because the tension was killing her. It was November seventh and not once, since they left Mystic Falls on October twenty-third, had they talked about the almost kiss that day on the porch. Elena wanted to respect Finn’s privacy, really she did, but if he only saw her as his best friend then she wanted to know that now. That way she could have time to heal and get back to being just friends.

Finn had taken to driving very well, so well that Elena was convinced he had learned before and was simply humoring her. The eldest Original looked over to see his companion in the passenger seat reading from a textbook and taking notes in the notebook that was propped on the page she was not reading. Damon had compelled all of the teachers at the high school not to worry about the missing students, assuring them that they were on a school trip and would be back soon. That didn’t stop Elena from calling Bonnie on the burner phone to figure out her assignments, and do them on the road. From what Finn had gathered from Niklaus, Caroline was the exact same way.

Finn kept in contact with all of his siblings, however, he only talked to them at night, for he did not want to concern Elena if it was bad news. 

He knew from his youngest brother that Jeremy and him were very close to being considered major league baseball players. However, Kol always did have a way of exaggerating things, and the skill him and the youngest Gilbert had picked up on their travels across the country was most likely one of them. Rebekah and Matthew had gone to Europe to check in with a few old friends. Niklaus and Caroline seemed to be always at each other’s throats, Finn had begun to find his brother’s weekly rants amusing. Although Finn knew they were avoiding the Tyler sized elephant in the room as they found the tension between the two of them growing.

Three, torturous, days past as he continued to make conversation with Elena and talk to his siblings during the evenings. The eldest Original knew he kept in contact with his siblings so he could avoid the conversation him and Elena were bound to have.

—

Matt was cleaning up the few glasses that littered the wooden tables at the bar he worked at in a small town in Bulgaria. Rebekah had decided that maybe they could figure out how to unlink the Mikaelson siblings by going to Katherine’s old stomping grounds, since Esther had used Elena’s blood in the spell.

The bell by the door clinked, signaling someone walking through the door, and Matt rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, we’re closed.” Matt announced, not turning around, as he finished picking up the glasses.

“I think you will change your mind, Mister Donovan.” 

Matt spun around to see Ether with Abby and Stefan standing behind her. He slowly moved his hand down towards his belt, where his vervain gun was. Stefan rolled his eyes and sped over to Matt, shoving him into one of the chairs and putting the gun on the counter. He moved out of the way as Esther made her way over.

“What happened to you?” Matt spat out, not sure who he was actually addressing.

“Matt, you know this needs to be done.” Abby tried to reason with him.

“You know your daughter is friends with some of them.” Matt pointed out, holding Abby’s stare, trying to prove his point to her. “You’re trying to prove yourself to her, to make amends, help her by helping them.”

“Enough.” Esther said, walking between Matt and Abby, breaking the staring contest between the two. “You are going to help us, Matt.”

“And why would I do that?” Matt asked, his gaze flicking to the door, hoping that Rebekah would come at any moment.

“Because you won’t have a choice.” Esther told him and pulled a small grimoire out of her long jacket.

“If you think this will make Elena come back to you, it won’t.” Matt turned to Stefan, speaking urgently. “You take Finn from her, she will never trust you, let alone, love you, ever again.”

“I’m not going to take Finn from her.” Stefan stated, calmly. “You are.”

“What?” Matt asked in disgust and horror.

Stefan rolled his eyes and walked over by Matt, kneeling so they were eye level. It was then that Matt saw the faint purple hue in his eyes. Looking over, he saw Esther crushing up a purple object into dust, Matt wondered how long Stefan had been like this.

“I said.” Stefan slowed down to speak to Matt like he was an idiot. “You. Are. Going. To. Kill. Finn.”

“Stefan, please,” Matt pleaded as Esther walked over to them. “fight it. You need to fight her.”

Esther poured the dust into her palm and Matt jumped up, but it was too late, as Esther blew the dust in his face. Matt blinked several times, beginning to think it didn’t work, but then his vision turned black and the was tinted purple. Matt had no choice but to follow Esther, while his consciousness took a back seat. He was able to see and hear everything, but could not control anything else.

—

Bonnie rubbed her eyes as she set down another one of her grandmother’s grimoires. Sometimes she cursed at witches for keeping every single spell, potions, rituals, and herbal remedies they ever preformed.

She had been at this for at least five hours now, and decided to take a short break. Bonnie got up from her spot in the middle of the living room floor, carefully avoiding the stacks of grimoires that were owned by various members of her family. When she got to the kitchen, she pulled the tea kettle out from its spot in the cabinet, filled it with water and set it on the stove to boil. As she waited, she stared out into the night through the kitchen window, and let her mind wander.

She wished she could find the damn spell so her friends could come home. Bonnie missed talking with her best friends, missed gossiping about whatever stupid drama there was that week. Alaric assured her they were all fine and everything was okay, but there was something about her history teacher that made her nervous. Bonnie could not figure it out for the life of her what was going on with her, but it started when he was first attacked in Elena’s house. However, her senses dialed up to one hundred about two days ago. 

Yesterday, he had come to the door, asking where Elena was. Sensing something was off, Bonnie just simply told him she did not know. Alaric told Bonnie he had found something and intended on doing something about it, and he needed Elena’s help. Bonnie told him that she would let him know when she heard from Finn.

Her thoughts froze when a small knock sounded against her front door. She silently pulled a knife out of the drawer she had been leaning against. Slowly she made her way to the door, preparing for the worst.

Yanking open the door she raised the knife, ready to strike if it was Esther. Fortunately it was Elijah, who looked unfazed by the sharp blade pressing softly against his chin.

“I take it that is a no on the donuts?” Elijah teased, causing Bonnie to look down at the bag in his hand.

She slowly lowered the blade, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“I am so sorry.” Bonnie mumbled, tiredly, as she set the blade down on the hallway table.

“No apologies are required, Miss. Bennett.” Elijah assured her as he stepped inside.

Bonnie had invited him in a week after the others left, figuring that if she was to trust any of the Mikaelson vampires, she would trust him. After all, Elijah had never given her any reason to doubt his loyalty.

“How long have you been at this?” He asked, pointing at the piles of grimoires that littered her living room floor.

“Far too long.” She answered simply and disappeared into the kitchen to grab the tea kettle, pulling another cup out from the cabinet. “The ones by the sofa have already been looked through.” Bonnie called to Elijah as she finished making the tea.

She came back in the living room with the two mugs of tea, handing him one.

“Thank you.” He told her and Bonnie nodded. “Here,” He offered, holding out a glazed donut.

“Thank you.” Bonnie repeated, mockingly, smiling warmly.

Elijah returned the smile and set the bag on one of the few remaining open spaces on the coffee table.

“So, do you want to tell me why you showed up at my place at midnight?” Bonnie asked, pointing to the clock on the wall, which read 12:00 a.m. in neon green numbers.

“Because of this.” He motioned to the large raggedy leather bound book tucked under his arm.

“What’s that?” She asked as she sat down in the arm chair.

“Ayana’s grimoire.” Elijah told her as he sat on the arm of the chair she was in. “She was your ancestor, as my mother probably told you, and since Ayana was a mentor of my mother’s, maybe you will find what we are looking for in here.”

Bonnie set down her cup, swallowed the last bit of her donut, and took the book from Elijah. She began flipping through two pages before she realized that she did not know the language. Turning the book slightly, she leaned towards him pointing to a word.

“What does that mean?” She asked.

“ᛈᚱᛖᛋᛖᚱᚹᚨᛏᛁᛟᚾ ᛋᛈᛖᛚᛚ.” Elijah spoke clearly, as if it were modern English. “It’s a preservation spell, must be the one she used on my mother.”

“If you knew I couldn’t read it, why did you give it to me, you would have saved time looking through it by yourself?” Bonnie wondered aloud.

“As long as your friends and you have known me, you knew how important family is to me.” Elijah explained. “Ayana is your ancestor, Miss. Bennett, and I felt that you deserved to know what she was like.”

Bonnie found herself staring into his eyes, looking for a lie, and when she did not find one, she cleared her throat and flipped the page.

“What’s this one?” Bonnie asked.

“ᛒᛚᛟᛟᛞ ᚲᚾᛟᛏ ᛋᛖᚨᛚᛁᚾᚷ ᛋᛈᛖᛚᛚ.” Elijah spoke in the native language before translating. “It’s a Blood Knot Sealing Spell, one that was used to seal the coffin my mother was in.” Elijah turned the page. “ᛋᛖᚨᛚᛖᛞ ᛒᛟᚢᚾᛞᚨᚱᛃ ᛋᛈᛖᛚᛚ, or the Sealed Boundary Spell, it is the one we taught you to use to protect yourself from my mother and whoever is working with her.”

“Right.” Bonnie said, turning another page.

“This is interesting.” Elijah mused, looking over the page.

“What?” Bonnie asked, leaning against his arm to look at the book.

“ᚺᛖᛚᛚᚠᛁᚱᛖ ᛗᚨᚾᛁᛈᚢᛚᚨᛏᛁᛟᚾ ᛋᛈᛖᛚᛚ.” Elijah muttered. “It’s a Hellfire Manipulation Spell.”

“Well, let’s hope we never have to use that.” Bonnie chuckled.

She was trying to get rid of the fear that flowed through her veins at the thought of Hell and Hellfire actually being real. However, at this point in her life she did not know what was fact or fiction anymore.

“What’s wrong?” She questioned, seeing the nerves that were, figuratively, jumping in his eyes.

“Why does anything have to be wrong for me to come and help you?” Elijah responded, and if he had not spent the better part of this month with her, Bonnie might have actually believed him.

“Elijah.” She warned and the Original sighed.

“My mother took Matthew yesterday.” Elijah told her.

“What?” Bonnie yelped, siting straight up.

“I was hoping we could find him before I had to tell you.” Elijah explained.

“Is he okay?” She asked. “Is he still…” Bonnie trailed off, not wanting to assume the worst.

“As far as we can tell, he went with my mother willingly.” Elijah told her, grabbing her hand.

“Willingly?” Bonnie repeated, confused, and Elijah nodded.

“Kol and Jeremy went to help Rebekah figure more out.” Elijah informed her.

“And Elena?” Bonnie asked.

“I informed Finn.” Elijah told her.

“And?” Bonnie questioned.

“He doesn’t want to inform Elena until we know everything.” Elijah told her. “And I agree. Elena has lost so much, I can’t bear to see her worry about something she has no control over.”

Bonnie nodded, knowing he was right, heck she wished that she didn’t know that one of her best friends was currently in the possession of a psychotic witch.

“Then let’s find this spell, so everyone can come home.” Bonnie told Elijah. “Read the rest of these, so we don’t have to take up time by you translating for me.”

“Of course.” Elijah agreed, letting go of her hand, and began to rapidly flip through the pages and stopped abruptly five minutes later. “Found it.”

He pointed in a happy, collected, way to a page that read, ‘ᛒᛚᛟᛟᛞ ᛚᛁᚾᚲᛁᚾᚷ ᛋᛈᛖᛚᛚ’, and Bonnie smiled. Elijah let his eyes skim over the next page, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration as he read it.

“What is it?” She asked.

“It’s a prophecy.” Elijah muttered as he read the page.

“Okay, but prophecies are not real, right?” Bonnie stuttered, knowing it could not be a totally good one from the way Elijah’s facial expressions were set. “They are just predictions.”

“I assure you, Miss. Bennett, prophecies are as real as you and me if you know how to interpret them.” Elijah said as he continued to read, suddenly his eyes widened.

“What?” Bonnie asked nervously.

“Miss. Bennett, we need to get my brother on the phone now.” Elijah demanded urgently.

—

Finn pulled into the motel parking lot and shut off the car. Pocketing the keys he turned to look at Elena, who was peacefully sleeping in the passenger seat, a quilt covering her form. Sighing, Finn reached behind him and grabbed his long winter coat, banishing the thoughts that had been plaguing his mind since they left Mystic Falls.

It wasn’t as though it was cold out, it was 54 degrees, but the afternoon, almost night, air had become more crisp. Finn tugged on his jacket and softly opened the car door, not wanting to wake Elena. He walked into the motel office with a stride that suggested he should be checking into a five star hotel, not a motel that accepted cash with no questions.

“Hello.” He greeted the young woman with pink and purple hair, who looked like she should have been studying for an exam and not playing games on her phone while working a motel. “I need one room for two people.” He told her pointing to Elena. 

“How many nights?” She asked in a rehearsed cheerful tone.

“Tonight only, thank you.” Finn responded respectfully.

They couldn’t risk spending more than a week in a town, and no more than a night in a motel. It helped that they spilt up this time, for when they were all together it was easier for Mikael to find them. Their mother, on the other hand, was more determined, and that worried Finn.

When he first ran, he had no one that he needed to worry about, no attachments. Now, looking out at Elena while the girl checked for rooms, he was terrified that he wouldn’t be able to protect her when the time came.

“So there’s only one room available, it has one queen bed. A high school sports team is staying here tonight, so you and your girlfriend will have to share the bed.” She told him, turning around to grab the key.

“She’s n—thank you.” Finn told the girl as she gave him the keys and he gave her the $200.

Finn was beginning to give up on correcting people, especially since they were most likely never going to see them again. He also found himself wanting to correct them less and less. It was thoughts like that which terrified him, and he hated being afraid.

“Elena.” He spoke softly once he was back in the driver’s seat, lightly shaking her shoulder.

“Mmmm.” Elena groaned and shifted her body, trying to burrow into the quilt.

Finn smirked softly at this before pulling the quilt to him, causing an unhappy noise of protest to come from Elena.

“I hate you.” She grumbled as she sat back up in her seat. “Why couldn’t you have just carried me into the room and let me sleep?”

“One, it’s only 5:30 in the afternoon, sleeping beauty.” Finn told her as he backed the car up and took off in the direction of their room. “And two, we have a lot of work to do, remember?”

Elena looked back at the pile of herbs, sitting in the backseat, in bags.

“Do you really think I can do this?” She asked him as he pulled to a stop in front of their room.

“You are a descendant of the Petrova line, now usually Petrova’s are travelers, but because of your father’s DNA, you keep the natural balance that travelers never have. As long as you keep the balance of nature you will always carry a bit of magic with you, and not just from being the doppelgänger. I know you can do this, even if it takes months or years, you can do this.” Finn encouraged her, grabbing her hand.

Elena looked down at his hand before looking into his hazel-green eyes. She took a deep breath and began to speak.

“If we accomplish this, you must promise me that we are going to talk.” She negotiated.

Finn internally sighed, knowing that at some point they were going to have this conversation. When he looked back into her almond shaped doe eyes, and found his ability to say no dissolving.

“Fine.” He muttered and Elena broke out into a squeal with a huge smile on her face. “You are a bloody minx sometimes, Elena Gilbert.”

“I have no idea of what you are referring to.” Elena replied mockingly, with a smile on her face, and got out of the car to get their stuff.

“Sure.” Finn muttered, with a small smile on his face, before getting out of the car too.

Ten minutes later they had all of their material set up in their room. This had earned them a few strange stares from some of the high school kids, to which Elena returned, making the children feel uncomfortable and leave them alone.

“Why are we doing this?” Elena asked him.

“I just figured that we need to be prepared for anything.” Finn told her, honestly, and Elena nodded.

“So how do I do this?” Elena asked, as she sat on the floor, by the coffee table with the herbs on it.

“Take the mistletoe and intertwine it with the wolfsbane.” Finn instructed as he kneeled down behind her.

He reached his arms around her and grabbed her hands, instructing how to do it. Elena felt her breath hitch as his hands covered hers. That was exactly why she wanted to have this conversation now, she couldn’t keep having moments like this if he didn’t feel the same.

“Now repeat this spell, _Haec mutantur plantae letalis ad arma ac defendat._ ” Finn spoke in perfect Latin.

“How am I supposed to say that?” She laughed.

“You don’t have to say it fast, so let’s take it one word at a time.” Finn chuckled, and tried to ignore how good it felt, feeling her laughter against his chest. “Haec.”

“Haec.” Elena repeated slowly and Finn nodded.

“mutantur.” Finn spoke, breaking that one into two syllables.

“mutantur.” Elena repeated.

“plantae.” Finn instructed.

“plantae.” Elena repeated.

“letalis.” Finn told her.

“letalis.” Elena spoke slowly.

“ad.” Finn told her.

“ad.” Elena said softly.

“arma.” Finn stared at the plants as he spoke

“arma.” Elena repeated.

“ac.” Finn grinned as he spoke, when the plants glowed a faint yellow.

“ac.” Elena shared the smile as she repeated what he said.

“defendat.” He finished.

“defendat.” Elena repeated perfectly.

“Perfect.” Finn smiled as they placed it in a beaker with water.

Today they had been driving through a small town when Finn saw the science store. After hearing about Matthew, Finn knew they had to take precautions. So he bought two glass beakers for each supernatural creature they could possibly be dealing with. Werewolves, witches, and vampires.

“Next one.” Finn instructed.

They repeated the process six more times, and by the time they reached the last beaker, it was seven o'clock at night. Once more for the werewolves. Then they some of Abby’s magic-muting herbs that Bonnie had stolen from Abby’s herb garden, in case they ran into Esther. Finally a nice little vervain and merlock orchid bundle for the vampires. The vervain would burn while the merlock would slip them into a deep sleep, long enough for them to leave. Finn pulled out a vial of white oak ash and poured it into the remaining two beakers, while Elena repeated the vervain and merlock orchid process. Finn knew they had to prepare for anything, even if it was his siblings, so before they left, he convinced Niklaus to part with one of his beloved vials.

“ _Haec mutantur plantae letalis ad arma ac defendat._ ” Elena finished with a blinding smile.

It caused Finn’s breath to hitch, and Elena sensed the change in the atmosphere, causing her smile to fade. Finn, blindly, reached for the last glass beaker. Elena placed the herbs into the water, never breaking eye contact with Finn.

“Elena.” Finn whispered, as he set the beaker down by the others.

“I just want to…I just need to know.” She whispered and tilted her head up, placing her lips, softly, on his.

Finn’s hand flew to her shoulder, as if to push her away, but instead drew her closer, moving his lips against hers. Before this, he was worried about her not reciprocating his feelings, then it was the fact that he would outlive her. But he came to the conclusion that he would rather spend one lifetime with her than none.

Elena raised her hands to run through his hair, as she shifted to straddle his lap, deepening the kiss. Finn removed his hand from her shoulder and placed it on her hip, as he slowly pulled away, letting his forehead rest against hers. They were both breathing heavily, as their eyes remained closed.

“Elena?” He questioned, slowly opening his hazel-green eyes to connect with her warm brown eyes.

“Yes.” She told him, knowing what he was asking.

They could talk in the morning, right now she was trying to alleviate the month’s worth of tension she had been feeling. 

Finn nodded his head, after hearing the confirmation, leaning back in to kiss her. Elena moaned as Finn’s hands tightened on her hips and felt his tongue swipe at her lips. She let his tongue into her mouth as she began to grind her hips against his.

Finn broke away from her lips and began to kiss and nip down her neck, causing breathy moans to escape from Elena’s mouth. She began to shakily undo the buttons on Finn’s shirt as he moved her hair to one side and began to suck on Elena’s pulse point. Elena practically tore Finn’s shirt down his arms when she undid the last button. Finn, however, took the short cut and just tore her shirt in half.

“That was rude.” Elena teased. “I liked that shirt.” 

She let out a small squeal as Finn picked her up and laid her on the bed. He hovered over her, his eyes connecting with hers.

“I’ll buy you a new one.” Finn promised as he placed a slow kiss on her lips before trailing down her body.

He unhooked her bra once he reached her breasts, and gave them his full attention. Elena let her head fall back against the pillow grasping the sheets as she succumbed to the euphoria of pleasure that flowed through her body.

Finn left his place at her chest and traveled down to the hem line of her jeans, placing a kiss by her belly button, he unbuttoned her jeans. Elena lifted her hips and he pulled them off.

“Elena, are you sure?” He asked one more time at the sight of her stunning, red lace, panties.

“Finn.” She called his name, and his darkened eyes flicked up towards hers. “I have never been more sure of anything in my life.”

Finn slowly trailed the red fabric down her legs and looked at the sight before him, and realized he had never been happier in his life. He crawled back up to Elena and kissed her, curling his hand in her hair.

“Although I feel slightly outnumbered here.” She teased, eyeing his pants.

Finn rolled his eyes playfully, and rolled off her to rid himself of his jeans. Elena watched him with hooded eyes, trying to remember exactly why she had let him put off this conversation for almost a month. 

As Finn crawled back to her, Elena took the time to admire his athletic form, letting her hands trail down his chest when he was close enough to her. She hesitated before grabbing his length in her hand, causing Finn to moan.

“Elena.” He gasped as she ran his length across her slick folds, he could feel his control slipping. “I won’t be able to resist much longer.”

“Then don’t.” She whispered into his ear.

That was all it took for Finn and he grabbed her thighs as he slowly pressed into her, causing them both to moan. Finn waited for her to adjust, as he kissed her softly, trying to sooth away any pain.

Elena was by no means a virgin, but the last time she had sex with anyone it had been Stefan and that was before he had left with Klaus, and Finn was by no means, small. She thrust her hips against his, letting him know she was fine.

Finn began to thrust into her slowly before picking up his speed, as he let his lips reattach themselves to her neck. Elena reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, curling her hands in his hair. She pulled at his hair as she met his thrusts, causing a groan to come from Finn.

Elena could feel her walls convulsing around him and knew she was close.

“Finn…I-I’m close.” She stuttered.

“I know.” He replied. “Elena, look at me.”

She opened her eyes and stared into his, lust filled, hazel-green eyes. They came together. Elena had definitely had sex before, but this, this was different. She knew deep down that she never wanted to be with anyone else ever again.

Elena smiled softly as Finn tucked her into his side, kissing her forehead. A moment later he began to laugh causing Elena to furrow her eyebrows and look up at him.

“What?” She questioned.

“I’ve just realized that we have probably just given several high school children so many reasons for therapy.” Finn chuckled and Elena let out a tired giggle.

“So where are we going tomorrow?” She asked.

“I was thinking New Orleans.” Finn told her, stroking her hair, as she rested her head against his chest. “I mean, my siblings called it home for decades, but I was thinking that we could go since no one actually knows what Finn Mikaelson looks like.”

“I like that idea. New Orleans or bust.” Elena smiled and leaned up to kiss him.

They settled into each other's arms and slowly drifted off into the peaceful sleep that awaited them.

—

Finn was woken up by a sharp ringing and rubbed his hand over his eyes. He sighed in relief as the ringing stopped and looked over at the clock. Who would be calling at five after twelve in the morning?

Slowly, he moved out of the bed, so he would not wake Elena up. The brunette shifted in the bed but remained asleep, and Finn sighed in relief. He went about the room and put his clothes on, and then picked up his phone. His eyebrows furrowed at the sight of his brother’s number on there. Niklaus would sometimes call at midnight, even Kol would, but never Elijah. He would always call in the late afternoon.

So, he quietly went to the door and opened it up, going outside. He pressed the return call button and pressed it to his ear. As it rang he looked at the dark parking lot of the hotel, it seemed almost too quiet, when all of a sudden Elijah picked up.

“Finn?” Elijah asked, just to be sure he wouldn’t be giving vital information to Elena that she did not need to hear.

“Yes, it is me brother.” Finn huffed irritatedly. “Do you want to tell me why you called me in the middle of the night?”

“I am over at Miss. Bennett’s…” Elijah began.

“And that means you have to call me when I am sleeping?” Finn asked rhetorically. “Also shouldn’t you be sleeping too, we are in the same time zone after all?”

“Damn it, Finn, shut up and listen to me!” Elijah yelled. “Bonnie is working on the unlinking spell as we speak.”

“Is she strong enough?” Finn asked.

“I think we both know the answer to that.” Elijah chuckled and Finn knew he was smirking.

“I guess it is a good thing we all left our blood with her then.” Finn responded.

“That is true.” Elijah agreed.

“Tell me what the real purpose of this call is, Elijah?” Finn asked. “Is it about Matthew?”

“No, it is about something I read in Ayana’s grimoire.” Elijah explained. “It’s a prophecy, brother.”

“About?” Finn asked, when a shape entered his peripheral vision, he could not believe what he saw when he turned. “Oh my God.” Finn muttered.

“What?” Elijah asked from the other side of the line.

“I found Matthew.” Finn spoke simply as he stared face-to-face with their friend who had been missing.

“Careful, Finn, mother was the last person to be seen with him, and he left with her willingly.” Elijah warned.

“I know.” Finn spoke. “Which means I need him to trust me.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Elijah asked.

“By giving him my undivided attention.” Finn explained. “I will call you back, brother.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Elijah said, against his better judgement, and hung up.

Finn slid his phone into his back pocket and stared at the woman he loved’s childhood best friend, who was silent.

“Matthew, what happened?” Finn asked. “Are you hurt?”

“F-Fi-Finn.” Matt gasped out, suddenly.

He began leaning against the wall as if he were in pain, and Finn moved to support him, when Matt held up a hand.

“N-No.” He told him. “Y-You need t-to ru-run.”

“What?” Finn said as he looked around for something, anything, that could tell him what was going on.

“Run!” Matt gasped out before he stood completely straight and reached his hand inside his jacket, pulling out a white oak stake.

Finn eyed it warily, and backed up slowly.

“Matthew?” He questioned, but got no response, and it was suddenly clear.

His mother knew what they had been doing all along, she knew that he had gotten Elena to tap into her ancestral powers. That was why she went after Matt, because he was human and all of their weapons stopped supernatural beings.

He screamed in pain as a regular stake flew into his leg, and he saw Stefan Salvatore standing behind him.

“Finn?!” Elena called out as she came running out of the room in one of the hotel’s complementary robes. 

She saw Matt and Stefan looming over him like vultures, and Elena did not hesitate as she threw herself onto Matt’s back. Desperately, she tried to pull the stake from his hand as he struggled against her. Elena grabbed it and threw it from him, but he then threw her to the ground and Stefan picked up the stake. 

She crawled back to the room and grabbed the vervain beaker that was sitting in the doorway. Finn used his some of his remaining strength to swing his legs into Matt’s, knocking him to the ground. Elena turned and whipped it at Stefan, who instantly dropped to the floor, knocked out cold and the stake fell from his hand.

Elena crawled over to Finn and pulled the stake out of his leg. Slowly they both got to their feet and she hugged him.

“I love you.” She muttered and Finn’s eyes widened before he smiled and kissed her softly.

“I lo…” Finn started but then his body lurched forward.

Elena looked into his wide eyes confused, then looked down to see something protruding from Finn’s heart. She looked back at his face, only to find it turning grey.

“No.” She whispered in horror, as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground.

Elena looked up to see Matt standing there with a blank expression on his face, but she quickly looked back to Finn, who was trying to place his hand to her cheek.

“Finn!” She cried, hoping that this was just a trick and it was a normal stake and he would be back in five minutes. “No, don’t leave me! I love you!”

She jumped back as flames erupted from his chest, and she lent against the railing, crying in sheer heartbreak. There was nothing Elena could do but sit there and watch as the man she loved burned into ash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry *runs and hides*
> 
> I cannot stop there and have immediately began on the next chapter, but it may take me a while since I am back in school. That is the reason why this chapter took me so long.
> 
> As always thank you for reading and commenting!


	8. Make It Without You

Elena leaned against the railing in a daze, she did not know how much time had passed. It was long enough for Finn’s body to stop burning, however Stefan and Matt were still knocked out. Matt had collapsed as soon as Finn’s body began to burn, and Elena did not have the strength to move to check on him.

Elena knew there was something up with him, because she could not fathom one of her best friends killing her best friend, or her was he her boyfriend. God, they hadn’t even had time to talk about what they were now. Elena made up her mind that he would have been her boyfriend, for she loved him and was certain he loved her. She couldn’t believe he was dead, the man she had come to love in a short period of time, her best friend.

Best friend…Caroline!

Elena stumbled back to the hotel room on her numb legs. Finding her jeans from where Finn had thrown them, she pulled out her phone. Quickly, she blinked tears out of her eyes, and called her Bonnie’s number. She prayed that Bonnie had found the unlinking spell, because she could not stand to loose her friends as well.

“Elena?” Bonnie picked up the phone, exhausted, as Elijah helped her sit down on the couch.

“Bo-Bonnie did you d-do it?” Elena stuttered as her voice quivered.

“Yeah, I separated them, you can all come home.” Bonnie smiled tiredly, closing her eyes. “Hey, Elijah mentioned that Finn found Matt…”

Elena closed her eyes in pain when Bonnie trailed off, she could hear Bonnie talking with someone. Elena had to guess it was Elijah, God how was she supposed to tell him about Finn.

“I’m sorry, Elena.” Bonnie apologized after a moment. “I would have told you that Matt was missing before, but Finn thought it was best not to tell you, so you wouldn’t worry about it. Is Matt okay? Finn said that he would call Elijah back after he got through to Matt, and we haven’t heard anything.”

“B-Bonnie.” Elena stuttered.

Bonnie heard her stutter this time, instantly sitting up, looking over at Elijah. The Original heard it too, since Bonnie had Elena on speaker, even though he would have heard it either way with his supernatural hearing.

“Elena, what’s wrong?” Bonnie asked cautiously.

“Finn’s…” Elena choked out a sob. “I’m sorry, Elijah, h-he’s dead…Matt killed him.”

Bonnie watched in horror as Elijah stumbled onto the couch, stunned by the revelation.

“Esther must have mind controlled him, right?” Elena sobbed. “He couldn’t do that…he wouldn’t.”

“Elena.” Elijah spoke calmly into the phone, and Bonnie watched as he brushed a single tear off his face. “Where was Finn killed?”

“I-In the hallway outside our room.” Elena stuttered, trying to control her tears.

“Okay,” Elijah began calmly. “Elena I want you to stay in your room, Finn informed me of your supernatural grenades, I am coming to get you.”

“But what about your mother?” Elena asked. “What if she takes him?”

“She won’t, her plan was to kill us, after that she wouldn’t care.” Elijah told her.

“What about Stefan and Matt?” Elena said as she sniffled, putting a lid on her emotions for the time being. “What if they wake up?”

“Find the complementary salt shaker in the cabinet, get the door and window. Say this incantation to enchant it, Obiectantque praesidio.” Elijah told her as he stood up, putting his suit coat on.

“And Matt?” Elena said, wiping her eyes.

“Hit him really hard in the back of the head with one of the beakers.” Elijah told her.

“Okay.” Elena responded.

“I will be there in an hour.” Elijah said and hung up the phone.

Elena stared at her burner phone for a second, the numbers staring back at her. Slowly she lifted her eyes to the door that was still wide open. Standing, Elena walked to the door and looked out.

Both Matt and Stefan were still unconscious and Finn’s body had stopped smoking. She walked back into the room and changed back into her clothes, and grabbed a new shirt from her bag, and pulled it on. She grabbed her torn shirt from the floor and held it in her hand for a solid two minutes, simply trying to remember how happy she had been only several hours ago, and now it felt like her world was falling apart. She quickly shoved the fabric into her clothing bag, putting her other shirts and jeans over it. 

She then walked back to the door and looked both ways, making sure both guys were still knocked out, before venturing outside of the room. With much struggle, emotional and physical, Elena got her arms under Finn’s and dragged him back into the room. Once they were both successfully inside, Elena shut the door and began to work on Elijah’s instructions.

Then she went by the table that was a substitute for a dining room table, and used all of her strength to push it against the door. Elena then went to the little kitchen and grabbed the salt, and spread it along the door frame and windowsill.

“Obiectantque praesidio.” Elena repeated what Elijah told her. 

When it was done she grabbed the beakers and set them in a line on the floor. Elena grabbed a chair and set it next to the line of beakers. She set her eyes on the door, and tried not to look down at the burnt corpse of her boyfriend. 

Now all she had to do was wait for Elijah.

—

“I’m coming with you.” Bonnie stated as Elijah moved to stand up.

“Miss. Bennett, I must insist that…” Elijah began.

“She’s my best friend, Elijah, and she just lost someone she spent her entire life looking for.” Bonnie told him. “So, I’m coming with, and call me Bonnie for God’s sake.”

Elijah let out a soft, pained, smile and nodded his head.

“Fine…Bonnie.” He consented and he turned to leave.

“One more thing.” Bonnie called out and the, now, eldest Original turned around.

Bonnie hesitantly stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. Elijah was frozen, before he slowly wrapped his arms, hesitantly, around her shoulders.

“What’s this for?” He asked.

“I know how much loosing a family member sucks, and want you to know that I am here to talk to…any of us are.” Bonnie told him.

A million sentences entered his mind, each one would have easily brushed off her concern, but as he looked into her olive-green eyes, they all were banished from his mind.

“Thank you.” He said. “Now let’s go get Elena, while I figure out how to tell my siblings about Finn.”

—

“Should we tell Elena about the prophecy?” Bonnie asked him and Elijah shook his head.

“She is in enough pain right now, I can’t even begin to fathom the type of anguish it would cause her to know what life she could have had without my mother’s interference.” Elijah told her.

“How will you guys defeat what is to come without that prophecy?” Bonnie asked.

“If what was prophesied to come actually comes, we will figure something out.” Elijah told her. “But who knows, maybe it was never meant to happen…Especially now that Finn’s gone.”

Bonnie nodded her head, letting silence fill the car for the rest of the ride. When they got to the hotel, Elijah parked their car next to the car they had not seen since the lake house almost a month ago.

Elijah walked in front of Bonnie as they walked down the outside hallway.

“Oh my God.” Bonnie muttered at the sight of Stefan and Matt laying motionless on the ground, shattered glass and a wooden stake surrounding them.

Elijah knelt down by the men and his eyebrows furrowed at the small amount of purple liquid trickling down their noses. He reached up and grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket, and rubbed it against Matt’s nose. Elijah brought it close to his own and smelled it and silently cursed. He tilted his head to the side and concentrated, sighing in relief when he heard a steady thumping of a heart beat.

“Elena was right, they were not in their right minds.” Elijah said and showed her the handkerchief.

“What is that?” Bonnie asked in disgust.

“An herb, it must have been the same one she used on those men at the ball.” Elijah told her, letting the handkerchief fall to the ground by the glass. “When it runs from their nose, it means that she has released their minds.”

“So when they wake up they will be themselves again?” Bonnie asked.

“Indeed.” Elijah confirmed.

“Will they remember everything they did?” Bonnie asked.

“Unfortunately.” Elijah told her.

“So Matt will remember killing Finn?” Bonnie questioned.

“Sadly, yes, maybe not right away, but it will come back to…Where is my brother?” Elijah asked, seeing the charred markings on the pavement, but no sign of him.

“I have no idea.” Bonnie told him and fear suddenly flowed through her veins. “Elena.”

Elijah and Bonnie took off running towards Elena and Finn’s hotel room. She hoped to God that Esther had not come back and killed her friend, she couldn’t handle loosing her too.

“Elena!” Elijah called, knocking against the door.

Things were silent for a moment before they heard something being moved and the door opened. Elena stood there, tear stains on her face and her hair was untamed. Bonnie felt her eyes tear up just looking at her friend, only imagining what she was going through. Her gaze dropped to a large object on the floor. 

Bonnie felt her hand fly to her mouth, as she gasped, realizing she was looking at Finn’s body. Elijah followed her stare and stood frozen at the sight of his brother’s corpse.

“I know you said to stay in the room,” Elena began, her voice hoarse from crying. “but I…I couldn’t leave him.”

Bonnie slowly pulled her friend into her embrace, causing the small lid Elena had put on her emotions to break. Elena sobbed into her friend’s shoulder, and Elijah had to turn away, trying to banish his own tears.

His older brother was dead. The man who taught him how to sword fight and ride a horse was now nothing more than a pile of ash and bones.

“It’s okay.” Bonnie whispered, even though she knew things were far from okay, but it was all she could come up with. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Take her to the car.” Elijah said, his voice thick with emotion. “I have to call my siblings.”

“Okay.” Bonnie whispered softly as she took the long way back to the car, as to avoid Matt and Stefan, knowing they were the last people Elena wanted to see right now.

Elijah pulled out his regular phone, there were no need for the burner phones anymore since they were unlinked from one another. Pressing the button for Niklaus’ number, he leaned his head back against the door frame and closed his eyes, letting the ringing of the phone drown out his emotions.

—

Klaus and Caroline pulled up outside the bar where two other cars were parked. He didn’t know why they were still searching this place, it was obvious that Matt wouldn’t be coming back at this point.

“Be nice.” Caroline warned. “This is my friend we are looking for.”

“Of course, luv.” Klaus agreed as they walked into the bar. “Anything?” Klaus asked Kol and Jeremy, who were leaning against the bar counter.

“Nothing.” Kol muttered, watching as his sister looked over the same tables for the 500th time. “Something about this doesn’t make sense.”

“You're mother abducted Matt, who knows what she is doing to him.” Caroline stated, tension lining her shoulders.

The quiet bar was suddenly filled with Mozart, causing everyone to freeze. Klaus pulled out his regular phone as everyone crowded around him. Elijah’s name was on the screen and Klaus quickly answered it, putting it on speaker.

“Brother?” He questioned.

“Hello, Niklaus.” Elijah greeted in a monotone voice and Klaus grinned.

“I take it this means that we are no longer linked?” Klaus asked.

“You assume correctly.” Elijah replied in the same tone causing Klaus’ eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

“Then why aren’t you celebrating?” Klaus asked. “I mean you’ve never been one to party, but you do have a happy voice at times…”

“I found Matthew.” Elijah interrupted.

“What?” Rebekah asked, pushing her way close to the phone. “Is he okay, ‘Lijah?”

“Mother used an ancient herb to control his mind.” Elijah said.

“Why would she do that?” Kol asked.

“Because she knew where we all were this entire time and knew what we were doing.” Elijah said.

“So, why did she need Matt?” Jeremy asked.

“Because Elena and Finn had a weapon against every supernatural creature Esther had tempted to her side.” Elijah said.

“What does that mean, brother?” Klaus asked as he felt his stomach fill with dread.

“She sent Matt and Stefan to kill Finn, and possibly Elena, I am not sure anymore.” Elijah told them.

“But obviously she did not succeed because we are all still alive.” Caroline said, always looking for the bright side.

However, Elijah was silent and Caroline felt the desperate smile on her face slipping slowly away.

“Elijah?” Klaus questioned with a rough voice.

“Bonnie managed to unlink us just in time.” Elijah told them. “Finn’s dead.”

You could hear a needle drop for two miles as everyone was still. No one knew what to say, when Jeremy’s eyes widened.

“Elijah where’s my sister?” Jeremy questioned, frantically.

“With Bonnie.” Elijah told him. “She was the one to call us, she was with him when he died.”

“Is she okay?” Rebekah asked.

Even though there had not been much love between her and the newest doppelgänger, she had seen how much the young girl cared for her brother.

“She just watched the man she loved die right in front of her, Rebekah. How do you think she is doing?” Elijah snapped before closing his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Rebekah accepted his apology, losing family was never easy in their family.

“We need to get back right now.” Jeremy said and grabbed his jacket.

Kol followed him out the door, and Rebekah slowly followed, doing her best to hide the tears cascading down her face.

“We will be back in one day, brother.” Klaus informed him, knowing he could compel them a jet.

“Be careful.” Elijah stressed. “I can’t loose another brother.”

“Of course.” Klaus said, nodding, putting aside his own emotions until he knew the rest of them were going to be okay.

—

Matt groaned as he sat up, clutching his head. Hearing a similar groan, he looked over to see Stefan sitting up as well. What had happened? A memory flashed through Matt’s mind of Esther, Abby, and Stefan standing in the bar he worked at.

“Stefan?” Matt groaned. “Are you, you, again?”

“I think so.” The other man responded.

Matt began to look around to see where he was when he saw Elijah leaning against the wall, a small box in his hand.

“Elijah!” Matt sighed in relief at the sight of the Original. “Where are we?”

“North Carolina.” Elijah responded in a rough voice, not looking at either of them.

“Okay…” Stefan drawled out the ‘a’, sensing something was up with Elijah.

“Hey, we need to get going, Esther could come back.” Bonnie told Elijah, walking up to him.

“How is she?” He whispered, or tried to, but his voice was so rough that Matt and Stefan could still hear him.

“She’s sleeping, I gave her a harmless herb that will give her a dreamless sleep.” Bonnie informed him. “I can’t even begin to imagine what she would dream about.”

“Bonnie?” Matt questioned as he sat up.

“Matt.” Bonnie said, taken aback, and looked at Elijah, who nodded. “How do you feel?”

“Like I got run over by a cement truck and then a bulldozer.” Matt chuckled rubbing the back of his head. “Do any of you want to tell me how I was in Bulgaria a few hours ago and now I am in North Carolina?”

“Matt, Esther took you two days ago in Bulgaria.” Bonnie explained slowly, before turning towards Elijah. “You should take Elena back to Mystic Falls, I will explain things to them, and then we will be right behind you.”

“I think I am the last person she wants to see right now.” Elijah informed her in a calm voice, causing Matt’s stomach to fill with dread, something had happened. Something was wrong.

“Or the first person.” Bonnie countered and Elijah was silent. “I will be fine, please go with her.”

“Okay.” Elijah said simply and placed the small box in his coat pocket, before leaving.

“Bonnie,” Matt started. “what happened here?”

“How much do you remember?” She asked both of them.

“I remember Finn knocking me out after Esther linked them and that is it.” Stefan answered, causing Matt’s mouth to fall open.

“Stefan, that was almost a month ago.” Bonnie told him.

“What?” Stefan responded in shock.

“At least you didn’t travel across the country in two days.” Matt told him, but stopped at the look on Bonnie’s face. “What did I do, Bonnie?”

Bonnie could not prevent the tears from falling down her face.

“You-You…” Bonnie trailed off.

“Bon, what did I do?” Matt asked, anxiety clawing at his throat.

“Not all of us made it out of here tonight.” Bonnie told him.

“I killed somebody?” Matt said, horrified at himself.

Bonnie chokingly nodded her head.

“Who?” Matt asked and Stefan looked down, remembering everything first since he had been controlled longer.

“Finn.” Stefan responded.

“What?” Matt said in disbelief.

“I remember everything, forcing you down so Esther could control you, and stabbing Finn in the leg, slowing him down, long enough for you to kill him.” Stefan told him and Matt instantly remembered everything.

He remembered Finn sweeping his legs, knocking him to the ground. He remembered getting up just in time to hear Elena tell Finn she loved him, and then stabbing his friend in the heart. He remembered hearing Elena’s heartbreaking sobs as she begged for the man she loved not to leave her.

“Oh my God.” Matt gasped in horror.

“I want you to know that none of us hold it against you.” Bonnie tried to console him.

“But you should.” Matt told her.

“Matt…” Bonnie began.

“I knew what I was up against Bonnie, I should have fought her more.” Matt told her. “I mean, how will I ever be able to look Elena in the eyes after this.”

“I honestly don’t know, Matt.” Bonnie told him. “But we will figure it out together, because we need to stick together now more than ever.”

—

Elena stared out the window as Elijah drove down the highway. She had woken up twenty minutes ago, and did not want to try and fall asleep again, afraid of what she would see. Elena was glad they took Elijah’s car, for she did not know if she could stand to be in her own. 

Over the past couple weeks they had made that car their home, from the bumper stickers they had collected throughout the country, to their piles of snacks in the backseat Finn was sure was going to kill her eventually. She guessed that’s what she got for letting him read the nutrition facts while they were at a rest stop one day.

She smiled softly at the memory of him ranting for ten solid minutes about how unhealthy her snacks were before she shoved one of the skittles into his mouth. The memory was soon replaced by him kissing her before getting a stake to the heart.

She closed her eyes as tears welled up in them, causing her eyes to burn from all of the crying that she had already done. Elena jumped when she felt pressure on her hand. She turned her head to see Elijah’s hand covering her own. Elena felt her body begin to shake with incoming sobs, and Elijah pulled the car off to the side of the road. He put the car in park and undid his seatbelt, flashing over to the passenger’s side of the car, opening her door.

Elena practically tore off her seatbelt to get out of the car, only making it a few feet before she fell to her knees in the grass. Again the memory of Finn’s graying face as flames burst out of his chest flashed before her eyes.

Elena sobbed as Elijah knelt down by her and pulled her into a hug. She grasped his jacket and cried into his shoulder. Elijah just stared off into the darkness, his heart breaking as one of his dearest friends grieved over the loss of his brother.

—

Bonnie, Matt, and Stefan walked into the lake house the next day. The Bennett witch went over to Elijah, greeting him by simply placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Where is she?” Bonnie asked and Elijah nodded his head in the direction of the deck.

Matt felt that he shouldn’t be there when he saw his best friend sitting on the picnic bench in a thin long sleeve shirt and jeans. It was clear that she was still wearing her clothes from the hotel, the sleeves stained with black lines.

“What’s on her shirt?” Stefan asked, voicing Matt’s own concern.

“Ash.” Elijah replied, voice void of emotions, and Matt didn’t blame him for being pissed at them. “From when she dragged Finn’s corpse into her room after he burned alive right in front of her.”

“Did you talk to her?” Bonnie asked, not wanting to have an argument when one of them was hurting so much already.

“A little.” Elijah told her, avoiding Matt and Stefan’s gazes, afraid that he would loose what little control he had left. “Is he with you?” Elijah questioned and Bonnie nodded.

“Thank you for moving him.” Bonnie asked.

“You can say his name, I’m done breaking down.” Elena’s voice came from the door, it was just as closed off as Elijah’s, maybe even a little bit more.

“That’s the thing, Elena, no one is forcing you to stop breaking down.” Bonnie said. “You have the right to grieve.”

“I’m so sick of grieving, Bon.” Elena told her. “First my parents, then Jenna and John, how many more times do I have to grieve? Why can’t I be happy?” Elena asked everyone in the room before closing her eyes, most likely banishing more tears…or memories. “I’ll be in my room.”

They all watched her leave, not sure of what to say to her. Out of all of them, Elena had lost the most, and it pained Bonnie to see her loose someone she had fallen in love with. This was worse than when Stefan went off with Klaus, because Elena knew there was a possibility of him coming back. But Finn was dead, and he wasn’t coming back no matter how much she wished it.

“I’ll talk to her.” Elijah told everyone, not waiting for any responses, he walked off towards her room.

When he got to the doorframe, he paused, looking at the young girl sitting on her bed. He found that had no idea what to say to her, he had no idea what to say to anyone. He grabbed the box that sat in his pocket and pulled it out. Elijah looked at the box before walking over and sitting next to her on the bed.

“A few days ago my brother called me.” Elijah started, staring at the box while Elena stared out the window. “He told me of this quaint little town in Tennessee that you both found.”

“It was beautiful.” Elena agreed quietly. “There were miles of wildflower fields and so many horses, he taught me how to ride a horse.” Elena chuckled sadly. “He had a rule that we were never to stay in one town for more than a week, but we stayed there for two.”

Elena and Elijah sat there in silence for a moment as Elena remembered their stay in that town.

“Why did he tell you about it?” Elena asked softly.

“Because he came across this beautiful, family owned, store.” Elijah told her, and Elena turned to look at him, confusion on her face.

“I don’t remember that.” Elena told him.

“It was when he was getting groceries from the store the day you were leaving.” Elijah explained. “He found something, but had to get back to you, so he called me to pick it up for him and give it to him when this was all over. Finn wanted to give this to you.”

He held out the small box and Elena hesitatingly grabbed it with shaking hands. For a minute she stared at the box, this was the last thing that Finn was ever going to give her, and he wasn’t even able to give it to her in person.

At last she opened the box and gasped at what was inside. In the plush holdings sat a ruby necklace.

“He told me it was an heirloom type of gem with a diamond, set in platinum metal, it is 1.86 carats.” Elijah told her, and on any other day Elena would have laughed at him explaining the technicalities of the situation, but today she simply smiled sadly.

“I love it.” She whispered, pulling it out of the box.

“Here, allow me.” Elijah told her and grabbed the necklace.

He undid the clasp and Elena pulled her hair out of the way, allowing Elijah to re-clasp the necklace. Elena let her hair down and touched the necklace that now rested around her neck.

“He loved you.” Elijah told her.

“And I loved him.” Elena said, causing Elijah to smile sadly.

Elijah heard the cracking of the gravel beneath tires with his enhanced hearing, knowing his siblings had arrived.

“We will be downstairs when you’re ready.” Elijah said and stood up, leaving the room much faster than he had come.

Elena waited until he left before she went into the conjoining bathroom, turning on the sink, and allowed herself to cry again. Unbeknownst to her, Elijah leaned against the wall outside, letting silent tears fall down his face.

—

Caroline was the first person to come into the house, followed by Jeremy. She surveyed the room to see Bonnie staring out the window at the lake and Stefan and Matt sitting in the arm chairs.

Stefan looked at the floor, trying to stare at anything but his own hands. While Matt had his head in his hands. Bonnie turned to look at her, Jeremy, and the rest of the Mikaelsons that had filed into the room.

“Hey.” She greeted softly.

Caroline ran up and hugged Bonnie, it had been so long since she had seen her best friend. Although she wished it was under better circumstances.

“Where’s my sister?” Jeremy asked, once the two girls parted.

“I’m right here.” Elena spoke from the hallway, where she stood with Elijah.

Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief, as he hugged his big sister, thanking anybody who was listening that Elena was alive. When they pulled apart, Elena’s eyes fell on the rest of the Mikaelsons. Klaus was not even aware he was moving until he was right in front of Elena. He knew the girl had experienced loss before, but he instantly knew this was different, and that the young girl would never be the same again.

“Klaus,” Elena began, knowing they had their differences in the past, but Finn was still his brother. “I-I’m sorry. I could not stop it. I couldn’t save him. I…”

Klaus did the one thing that no one expected him to do, he brought Elena into a hug. He knew he didn’t deserve her forgiveness and she owed him no explanations for what happened to Finn. He did not blame her, if he blamed anyone, it was his mother.

“Elena, this was not your fault.” Klaus said.

“But it is, because of me, we let our guard down.” Elena said, her voice muffled from her face being pressed into his chest.

“If anyone is to blame, it is me.” Elijah spoke up from next to Bonnie. “I was the one who called Finn at night, forcing him to go outside so he would not wake you up.”

“Enough.” Klaus said, breaking his hug with Elena, so he could address everyone. “This is what she wants now. She didn’t kill all of us like planned, so we have that against her. We do not know how long it will take her to realize this, but when she does, she will strike again. We owe it to Finn, and everyone in this room, to take her out once and for all.”

“I’m in.”

Everyone turned to see Damon in the doorway, Elena could see the pain in his eyes no matter how much he tried to hide it.

“She killed my friend.” Damon said, and Elena remembered that Sage wouldn't have been able to survive after Finn was killed. “I say we kill the bitch…no offense.” He told the Originals.

“She stopped being my mother the second she killed my brother.” Elijah stated. “I am in.”

“So am I.” Bonnie said, nodding her head.

“Will it hurt?” Rebekah asked.

“Probably.” Damon told her, shrugging.

“Then I’m in.” Rebekah announced. “Always and Forever.” Rebekah said, looking at her two older brothers.

“This’ll be fun.” Kol said. “Finn could be boring, but he was family, and deserves justice.”

“I didn’t know you knew so many kind words.” Klaus teased, causing his younger brother to scowl.

“I’m in.” Matt spoke up. “She made me her personal puppet, and made me kill one of my best friends. I need to make this right.”

“Same here.” Stefan spoke up. “I’m in.”

“So am I.” Jeremy spoke up from his place next to his big sister.

“I am in.” Caroline agreed.

“Ooh, I'd be careful, blondie,” Damon teased. “we may just make a psychopath out of you yet.”

Caroline glared playfully at him, before turning towards Elena. This caused everyone to look at the young brunette, who was playing with the necklace around her neck, looking at the floor.

“She killed my best friend, the man I loved, threatened to kill many people I consider to be friends and family.” Elena replied, deadly calm, before looking up, nothing but determination showed in her eyes. “I’m in.”

“Let’s kill this witch.” Damon said, smirking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://pics.angara.com/catalog/product/SP0169R/PT/AAAA/9x6/1/SP0169R-PT-AAAA-9x6.jpg
> 
> Here is a link to the necklace that Finn got for Elena.


	9. Revenge or Justice?

They had the funeral for Finn two weeks later, in the wildflower field that he had escaped to all those years ago. The reason they had put it off for so long was because they wanted to take care of Esther before they said goodbye to Finn. However, after not finding any sign of the witch, they decided that they needed to pay their respects to Finn, and then seek justice. Jeremy and Bonnie stood on either side of Elena, knowing how strong she was, but knew that everyone had their limits. Even Tyler returned for the funeral, and Klaus did not object, knowing that Caroline and Elena would need him today more than ever.

Tyler did not like any of this, when Matt had called him about a month ago to say that they had found Finn, Tyler did not believe him. Then Finn had actually called him on the road, of course Tyler could not answer his phone because of Klaus, but the voicemail still shocked him. What shocked him even more was to figure out that his girlfriend had gone on the road with the man that had caused him so much pain.

It infuriated him to see the looks of sympathy and understanding that she gave the hybrid. Tyler almost lost it when she wrapped her hands around his arm and let her head rest on his shoulder, as Finn’s casket was lowered into the ground. However, he would not cause a scene, for Elena’s sake.

The brunette stood by her brother and Bonnie staring at the big tree where she got lost by so many years ago. Her hand clasped tightly around the ruby necklace she had refused to take off.

“Do you think he is here?” Rebekah asked, looking around the peaceful meadow.

“No.” Elena spoke simply.

“What makes you so sure?” Caroline asked.

“He is going to find someone he lost a long time ago, and now he can finally reunite with her, I just know it.” Elena told them.

“Freya.” Elijah realized aloud and Elena nodded.

“Who is that?” Bonnie asked him.

“Our older sister, she died from the plague, which was why we moved here.” Elijah told Bonnie. “He told you about her?” Elijah asked Elena, who nodded.

“I hope they find each other.” Bonnie stated after a moment of silence.

“I hope so too.” Elena whispered, she would not tell them how Freya spent the rest of her life.

Finn trusted Elena enough to tell her how Freya spent the rest of her life with his psychotic aunt, and there was a reason he did not tell anyone else. So Elena was going to carry his secret to the grave.

Everyone was silent, as they payed their respects to not only Finn, but also Freya.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Klaus growled in anger and Elena turned to see Esther and Abby walking towards them.

Elijah sped in front of Bonnie and Elena, even though he knew both women were more than capable of taking care of themselves.

“I am here to pay my respects to my son.” Esther said.

“You mean the one you murdered?” Bonnie questioned in disgust.

“If it was not for your interference, Miss. Bennett, than I would have succeeded in doing what I came back to do.” Esther told her calmly, but Bonnie could see the anger in her eyes.

“Yeah and you would have killed a bunch of innocent people as well.” Bonnie challenged.

“People who have killed.” Esther told her. “How does that make them innocent?”

Elena stepped around Elijah, who tried to grab her arm, but she shrugged it off. She walked up to Esther, her eyes rimmed red from all of the crying she had done for the past two weeks. Elena stopped in front of Esther, glaring at her, while the witch gave her a look of sympathy. Elena could see that, deep down, she did not mean it.

“Elena I am sorry for your loss.” Esther told her. “No one…”

Esther was cut off by Elena’s hand slapping her across the face. Elijah and Kol stood there dumbfounded and Caroline looked borderline proud.

“You foolish girl.” Esther hissed, grabbing Elena’s arm, tugging the girl close to her.

“You think you can justify the murder of your own son with a simple, ‘I’m sorry’?” Elena seethed, ignoring Esther’s comment.

She yanked her arm from Esther’s grip, ignoring the sting on her arm from Esther’s ring slicing her skin open. Esther stood there humming, clasping her hands behind her back, trying to put her calm facade on again.

“The people you two murdered had family, friends, people they loved and cared about.” Elena said, moving to glare at Abby as well. “And since it wasn’t as important as your own agenda, they didn’t matter.”

“Elena, you don’t understand, the people he’s killed,” Abby began, pointing at Klaus. “They had families too.”

“You are such a hypocrite, mom.” Bonnie spoke up in disbelief. “Just because he’s killed innocent people in the past, does not give you the right to kill as well, no matter how good of a cause you think it is. And from what I have seen this past month, he is trying to make up for it, he’s not trying to justify what he has done, he knows what he did was wrong and is trying to be better.”

Klaus looked shocked at the young witch, who was so boldly defending him. Never in his life did he think that a Bennett witch would want to believe in him. While Bonnie was holding Esther and Abby’s stare, Klaus crept up and tugged Elena to him, taking a few steps back.

Finn and him had never gotten along much before this, especially with their age gap, but he loved his brother. He should have been the one to die, not Finn, so Klaus was going to protect Elena Gilbert for the rest of her life. It was the one way he could truly make amends and honor his brother.

“I just have one question.” Elena spoke up, her voice distant, and her eyes met Esther’s. “Why Finn?”

Esther studied the young girl and her heart went out to Elena, though she would never admit it. She understood it perfectly, for she felt the exact way when Mikael had killed Ansel.

“Because he had the most to loose.” Esther told her, looking over to Elijah and Bonnie. “Yes, I know about the prophecy. Ayana told me about it long before I turned my children into vampires. Though you never did get a chance to tell Finn, did you?”

“What prophecy?” Elena asked Esther.

“There is a prophecy of three Mikaelson witches that were never meant to be…” Esther began, a wicked, controlled, grind on her face.

“Mother, enough.” Elijah growled.

“I think she should know, don’t you?” Esther asked, mockingly.

“Not now.” Elijah told her, firmly. “Not while Finn’s death is still fresh.”

Suddenly everyone fell to the ground, grasping their heads, as Esther held her hand out to them. The vampire’s necks were all snapped and the humans were rendered unconscious.

“There, that’s better.” Esther sighed, turning to Abby. “Leave us.”

Abby eyed Elena, the only one still awake, before her gaze fell to her daughter. The witch nodded and walked away. Elena would have felt bad for her, but after Finn, she was never going to have an ounce of sympathy for her ever again.

“As I was saying, there is a prophecy about three Mikaelson witches that were never meant to be.” Esther continued, pausing when she saw Elena’s glare. “Listen to me Elena, if not for you or me, than do it for Finn.”

“Are you seriously using him to guilt trip me?” Elena seethed.

“No, but I think you will want to listen.” Esther responded.

“You have until they wake up, and then I will not stop them from killing you.” Elena warned, and Esther gave her a smile that made Elena sick.

“There is a prophecy about three Mikaelson witches that were never meant to be, and when Ayana used to tell me it when my children were young, I could never understand it. Then I made them vampires, and it all made perfect sense.

There will be three witches that will destroy a great evil once and for all. The first will be born the exact second they are due. The second will be brought into this world through chaos and tragedy. The third will be born in peace and serenity.” Esther explained.

“Why are you telling me this?” Elena asked.

“Because the first child was meant to be yours.” Esther told her, causing Elena to stumble back.

“W-What?” Elena stuttered. “How do y-you know?”

“The first child was said to be conceived by two long lost friends that truly loved each other.” Esther told her. “You can ask Elijah to see the prophecy. However, the witches will have to find another way to defeat their evil, since my son was too cowardly to act on his feelings.”

Elena felt like throwing up. According to everyone else, her and Finn were never anything more than friends, even though it was clear that they both wanted to be more. The true story, however, was quite the opposite. Had they unknowingly activated some sort of ancient prophecy? If they had, Elena was not going to let Esther know a thing about it. She would hide out in Antartica before she let that psychopathic witch touch her potential child.

“We could have had a family?” Elena said in heartbreak, hoping she was a good enough actress to fool the witch. “We could have had everything we always wanted.”

Finn had told Elena of how much he sometimes loathed being a vampire, and that would lead him to tell her about his past. He would tell her about how he had wanted nothing more than to get married and have a family of his own. When he was turned into a vampire, all of those hopes died, but he would still dream. He would watch the children of the servants of Count de Martel’s castle, dying for one of his own. Now he may finally have his wish, but he would never be here, and Elena’s heart broke for him, her, and their possible child.

“I’m sorry.” Esther apologized with mock sympathy.

“‘Sorry’?” Elena repeated in anger. “You better run, because, like I said before, when they wake up, I will not stop them from killing you.”

“You think you have a chance against me?” Esther asked, a laugh bubbling in her chest.

“I don’t know, you tell me?” Elena challenged, crossing her arms across her chest, and the humor left Esther’s face.

Elena heard Elijah groan as he slowly woke up, causing the doppelgänger to look down at the, now oldest, vampire. When Elena looked back up, she was unsurprised to see Esther gone. The witch was all bark and no bite when it came to facing her children.

Elijah sat up, rubbing his temples, he turned and helped Bonnie to her feet. Slowly everyone got up and they then turned their gaze towards Elena, whose body was shaking from the sobs she was trying to prevent from escaping her body.

“This is why we didn’t want to tell you.” Bonnie said softly, and wrapped Elena in a hug.

“We need to talk.” Elena said so quietly that Bonnie was sure the originals did not hear it, since they were trying to block out Elena’s sobs.

“Can we have a minute?” Bonnie asked Elijah, who nodded, and they all slowly left.

They sat on the ground, underneath the tree Elena had cried under six years ago. Elena waited for a solid five minutes before she spoke, wanting to make sure they were alone.

“I slept with Finn.” Elena told her best friend.

“What?” Bonnie asked, shock lining her features.

“T-The night Matt and Stefan found us, we had…succumbed to the tension.” Elena told her.

“What does this have to do with what Esther said?” Bonnie asked.

“She read me the prophecy about three Mikaelson witches that were never meant to be.” Elena told her. “She said that the first child was to be conceived by two long lost friends that truly loved each other. That’s Finn and me, Bonnie, I know it, and so do you.”

“I know.” Bonnie agreed, releasing a breath, trying to process everything. “I read the prophecy with Elijah, but we thought that because of what happened to Finn…I guess we were wrong.” Bonnie let out a strained chuckled.

“What do I do, Bon?” Elena asked.

“What do you mean?” Bonnie asked, looking into the stressed face of her best friend.

“I mean, if I am…What do I do?” Elena repeated. “This child would inherit all of the Mikaelson’s enemies, even if Finn did not cause them harm, they will still come after them because of who their family is.”

“If you gave the child up, it could protect them.” Bonnie said.

“What if they inherit the Mikaelson witch gene, and I am not there to help them understand it, and they get hurt because of it?” Elena questioned. “Two, it does not mean that their enemies won’t find out about them.”

“Are you going to…?” Bonnie trailed off.

“No.” Elena said without hesitation. “They are the only thing I have left of him, and I couldn’t bear to loose it.”

“Then it seems you have already made up your mind.” Bonnie said with a small, sad, smile.

“I want to protect them.” Elena told her. “So, after Esther is gone and I graduate high school, I am leaving and I would like to keep this between us…”

“Elena, you can’t, strength in numbers.” Bonnie told her, in shock.

“Bonnie, if our suspicions are correct, I do not want to raise a child in a town full of supernatural creatures.” Elena told her. “I want to raise them away from all of this.”

Elena motioned around them, and Bonnie understood that Elena did not want to loose her potential child, especially after she had just lost Finn.

“I understand, but I don’t understand why we are keeping this from everyone else?” Bonnie questioned.

“The Mikaelson’s have so many enemies, and they fight so much, I do not want this child in the middle of it.” Elena told her. “You can do a cloaking spell on the baby, no one will know but us.”

“But what about the prophecy?” Bonnie asked.

“Esther said they will find another way to defeat this great evil, and I have to have faith in that.” Elena told her. “No one will know this child exists and they will have a normal life. They will never even know the world of the supernatural exists beyond that of fiction.”

“What if they are a witch?” Bonnie asked.

“Then I will tell them, and they will have their Aunt Bonnie to help them.” Elena told her with an unsure smile.

“‘Aunt Bonnie’?” Bonnie mused with a small smile. “I like the sound of that.”

“But if they are not a witch, they will never know about this world.” Elena told her and Bonnie nodded.

“What about Elijah?” Bonnie asked. “You know how important family is to him.”

“I will cross that bridge when I get there.” Elena muttered. “Right now I don’t even know if I accidentally started a prophecy, but I do know that this will stay between us.”

“Deal.” Bonnie told her and stuck out her hand.

Elena let out a tear filled laugh and shook it, she let Bonnie pull her into a hug as they sat in silence.

—

“Alright,” Bonnie began as they sat in her living room alone later that night. “first order of business, finding out if you are pregnant.”

Elena stared at the complex salt circles on the table, as well was the herbs Bonnie dropped into the goblet along with some salt. Bonnie began to hum, swirling the goblet slowly, as the candles lit on their own accord.

“Now I need a strand of your hair.” Bonnie told her. “Usually, this spell can also be used to link two people, but I think we should just skip that part.”

“Yes please,” Elena began as she gave Bonnie the strand she asked for. “I think one time was enough.”

Elena remembered the time that Bonnie’s cousin, Lucy, had temporarily linked her to Katherine. She never wanted to feel that kind of pain and fear ever again.

Bonnie dropped her hair into the goblet and repeated the process from before. Suddenly the candles went out, and Bonnie stopped humming, opening her eyes. She looked over at Elena and smiled softly.

“Congratulations.” Bonnie told her softly and Elena lent back into the chair she was sitting next to.

When Esther had told her about the prophecy earlier today, Elena felt that she very well could be a mom, but she never expected it to actually be true. Tears filled her eyes, and she looked at Bonnie.

“He’ll never know.” Elena told her, emotions clawing her way up her throat.

“Well, he could know by watching you from the Other side.” Bonnie told her. “But if you choose to cloak your location, he won’t be able to find you.”

“Bonnie, my first thought has to be protecting this child, Finn would understand.” Elena told her.

“Okay.” Bonnie told her, knowing Elena’s mind was made up, and she began to clear the table from the previous spell and placed the Sandalwood on the table.

Ten minutes later the spell was complete and Bonnie looked at her friend, who was unconsciously rubbing her stomach with her hand.

“That will just cloak the child.” Bonnie said. “I am going to do the one for you next.”

“Bon,” Elena started, and reached out, grabbing Bonnie’s hand. “thank you.”

“Elena, you are my best friend, I will always stand by your choices…Even if Caroline will kill us later.” Bonnie said and the girls began to giggle. “Are you going to tell her?”

Elena slowly nodded as she thought Bonnie’s question over.

“After all this is over with Esther, I will tell her and hope she will not be too mad at us.” Elena told her.

“Alright then.” Bonnie told her with a smile. “Let’s finish this spell.”

Bonnie finished the spell just as quickly as the first time. As if it was on cue, her phone began to ring as soon as she was done with the spell.

“Hello?” Bonnie asked, and listened to the other person. “Yeah, she’s here with me, why?”

Bonnie nodded, even though the other person was not there, and put the phone on speaker.

“Okay, we can hear you.” Bonnie told the speaker.

“Elena?” The voice asked, and Elena was not surprised that it was him.

“Elijah.” She responded.

“Are you okay?” He asked hesitantly.

“No,” Elena answered honestly. “and I don’t think I will be for a long time, but there is no need to treat me with kid’s gloves.” Elijah was silent, but Elena knew he would honor her wish. “So, do you have a plan for Esther?”

“Let’s just say that it has gotten much more complicated.” Elijah said.

“What do you mean?” Bonnie asked.

“I don’t feel comfortable saying over the phone, would you mind coming to Niklaus’ house?” Elijah said in a voice that made Elena think he was nervous.

“We’ll be there.” Elena replied, knowing that if it unnerved Elijah, it was best to just agree.

—

Bonnie and Elena pulled up to Klaus’ house and Elena sat, staring, at the mansion, even after Bonnie turned off the car. The last time she had been here, she had been happy and hopeful for a future with her best friend.

Now, he was gone, and she would never get to tell him he was going to be a father. She also felt guilty for whichever Mikaelsons were also going to become parents. If she hadn’t given into her desire, then no one would have to be parents who didn’t want to be. But because of her actions, she activated the prophecy, and there was no way to stop it or tell when it was going to take effect.

“You ready?” Bonnie asked softly, placing her hand on Elena’s, and Elena nodded. “Alright.”

Bonnie held Elena’s hand as they walked into the Mikaelson manor, they walked through the big doors that Elena had walked through at the ball. It was so weird to see the wide open space empty, when last time it had been filled with people.

“Elijah?” Bonnie called, knowing he would hear her with his supernatural hearing.

“Miss. Bennett…” Elijah called from the top of the stairs, and Bonnie fixed him with a mock glare, to which he returned a small smile. “Bonnie.” He amended. “We are in the living room.”

They followed him into the room, where everyone sat. 

Caroline sat next to Jeremy, avoiding both Tyler and Klaus. Elena felt bad for Caroline, she still loved Tyler, but her month away with Klaus had probably allowed her to see the man behind the beast.

Tyler sat next to Matt, openly glaring at Klaus, to which the hybrid returned his glare from his place next to Rebekah.

Liz sat next to Meredith, who was staring at her hands, so Elena could not see her emotions.

“We went to the place, he’s not there.” Damon said as he walked in with Stefan and Kol.

“What place?” Elena asked, strongly. “Who’s not there?”

Damon cocked an eyebrow at her tone, but shrugged none the less. Elena was prepared to put her emotions to the side until Esther was gone, she needed to in order to protect the small life she was now carrying within her.

“Bonnie informed me that during your travels, Alaric came to visit her.” Elijah informed her.

“What’s wrong with Ric?” Elena asked.

“We figured out who was murdering everyone.” Damon said, holding up a leather bound journal. “Apparently their mother was changing him every time he died. It happened to your relative, Samantha, too. Every time the Gilbert Ring brings you back to life, it changes something within you. Esther used that to her advantage, I’m sorry Elena, but Ric’s gone.”

“No, I’m not.” Ric’s voice called.

Every vampire, witch, doppelgänger, hybrid, and human spun around to see the man in question standing there. His shirt was torn at his stomach and had dark red staining the fabric around the hole in his shirt.

“Are you, ‘you’?” Damon asked his friend, and Alaric nodded.

“I woke up in your family crypt.” Alaric told them. “Esther explained to me that I am in transition. Apparently she was morphing me into the perfect hunter, she just didn’t expect this version of me to come out after she killed me. I took the first opportunity I had, when her back was turned, and killed her. I’m sorry.”

He told the Originals, knowing how important family was. Elijah surprised everyone by nodding right away.

“We’ve been trying to kill her for weeks…” Elijah told him. “Ever since Finn.”

“Finn?” Alaric questioned, taking his first real glance around the room, it was then that he noticed Elena standing there by herself, her arms wrapped around her waist. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Klaus told him. “Finn was avenged tonight, thanks to you.”

Alaric nodded, accepting the hybrid’s answer, and he walked over to Elena. He pulled the young girl, whom he saw as a daughter, into a hug. Elena wrapped her hands around the lapels of his jacket, and Ric knew she knew what he was going to do.

“This is all my fault.” Elena told him, tears flooding her eyes. “You moved out, y-you gave me the ring back. You didn’t want any part of this, and I-I forced you to stay and take care of us.”

“Don’t do that.” Alaric whispered sadly, smoothing her hair comfortingly. “Okay? Taking care of you and Jeremy has been…has been the closet I’ve ever come to the life I always wanted.”

Bonnie, turned into Elijah, letting him wrap her in a hug, as tears cascaded down her face. Caroline held Jeremy’s hand as if he would suddenly disappear. Tyler and Matt sat somberly, as they stared at the floor, and Liz wrapped her hand around Meredith’s.

“You should go.” Alaric told her, taking a step back.

“Wh-What?” Elena stuttered.

“Damon’s going to go with me, he’s going to make sure this ends right.” Alaric told her.

“Ric…” Jeremy started, standing up.

“This alter-ego I have was dangerous enough as a human, I don’t want to figure out what he is capable of as a vampire.” Alaric cut Jeremy off.

“I’ll take him to the family crypt, with Esther gone, it will be peaceful, I promise.” Damon said from his spot by the wall. “Meredith is giving me a sedative for him, he will go to sleep, and then that will be it.”

“No.” Elena spoke softly. “I can’t loose you too.”

She stepped back to Alaric and brought him into a hug, silently begging him not to leave her. Elena felt a hand wrap its way onto her shoulder, she looked back to see Klaus standing there, he gave her a look of sympathy and understanding. It was that look that moved Elena to release Alaric and go into the hybrid’s arms. A month ago she couldn’t imagine being in the same room as Klaus without wanting to kill him, but now, she was glad he was there. It was unbelievable how much things had changed in such a short period of time.

“I love you both so much.” Alaric told her and Jeremy, going over by Damon. “Let’s go.”

“Ric.” Jeremy called, when their guardian was by the door, causing the man to turn around.

Jeremy walked over by his former teacher and brought him into a hug, to which Alaric reciprocated.

“Take care of you sister, okay, she needs you now more than ever.” Alaric whispered in Jeremy’s ear.

“I will.” Jeremy responded, nodding his head. 

Alaric smiled sadly at all of them before he turned and left the house with Damon. Elena waited until she heard the front door shut before she broke down sobbing. Klaus held her tighter and rubbed Elena’s back, as he let the guilt flood his body. 

If it wasn’t for him and his vendetta to break his curse, then her aunt would still be alive, as well as her adoptive uncle, Finn would be too, and Alaric would not be walking off to his death. 

—

Damon sighed as he left the crypt several hours later, blinking away the tears of loosing his only friend. He stopped as he heard crunching, looking up his eyebrows furrowed at the sight of Bonnie Bennett walking through the woods at him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked the girl, who was in a silk robe and not much else.

It was clear that she had crawled out of bed and was now sleepwalking through the woods, barefoot. However, Damon did not remember her owning a dark blue silk robe, and he did not look at what hid beneath the robe, for he knew she would give him an aneurysm if he looked anywhere else.

“Hey, Bonnie?” Damon questioned as she walked past him, looking at her eyes and head. “What are you sleep walking, or something?”

She turned to look at him, no recollection in her eyes, and it made Damon’s hair stand on edge.

“Bonnie?” He tried again, but dropped to his feet in pain, clutching his head, as she raised her hand at him. “Bonnie!” He cried out to her, and then it all went dark.

The Bennett witch turned around and walked into the crypt, stabbing herself with the white oak stake once she was inside. She cried out in pain, before putting her hand in front of Alaric’s mouth. Bonnie was vaguely aware of the pain as he moved from her hand, latching onto her neck. When she regained control, it was too late, as Alaric dropped her to the ground and her vision faded into inky black darkness. Alaric stood up with the white oak stake in his hand. Now as an enhanced original vampire, he was ready to do his job.


	10. Before Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there was a lot of stuff from the Season 3 episode of TVD called, Before Sunset, in my story. This is why it is longer than a lot of my other chapters, there was just a lot of stuff in it that will help my story along. If you recognize some of the dialogue throughout the episode, that is because some of it is from the actual episode, and that is why the chapter is named after the episode. So that is why I am giving credit to the show's writers because, while most of the dialogue is mine, some of it is from the show.
> 
> I hope you like the chapter!

“What do you mean you are bailing on the clean up committee?” Caroline asked as she walked down the halls of the high school. “It is bad enough that I spent a month on the road and missed the stupid dance. Now I have to clean up since the stupid junior who planned it is off on a date, and now you’re telling me that you can’t help?”

“Klaus called.” Tyler told her. “Apparently, he’s leaving town and wants me to pack up his house.”

“Wait, he’s leaving?” Caroline asked, genuine concern drifting into her voice unintentionally, and it made Tyler grit his teeth.

“Yeah, I think he realized you’re not going to dumb me for him, so he’s hitting the road.” Tyler told her, keeping the sarcastic bite from his tone.

“He’s being petty.” Caroline sighed, making a mental note to call Klaus after this.

“And he still thinks I’m sired to him.” Tyler told her, picking up his car keys. “It’s fine, though, I love to test my acting skills every once an a while. With any luck, this will all be over the second he crosses that town line. Hey listen, I am running late, so I will call you later?”

“Yeah, sounds great.” Caroline muttered.

“Hey,” Tyler told her, soothingly. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.” Caroline responded after a small second of hesitation.

 _'Where did that come from?’_ Caroline thought to her self as she hung up the phone.

She didn’t dwell to long on that thought as she scrolled through her contacts. If she had been caught looking for that specific contact a month ago, Caroline would have thought she was crazy. Just as she was about to call him she heard a locker bang, so she turned around, looking behind her. She looked in front of her again after she thought she heard something.

“Hello?” She called out, and shrugged when she got no reply.

As she walked down the hallway, she pressed the call button and placed the phone to her ear. She sighed as the phone rang by her ear, she swore that if he didn’t pick up, she would hang him from the rafters of his mansion by his thumbs until he provided her with a good enough answer as to why he was leaving. God, she had spent too much time with him, she was beginning to sound like him.

“What do you want, luv?” The familiar British voice drawled.

“You’re leaving?” Caroline asked impatiently, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t take it personally, Caroline, I was bound to disappoint you at some point.” Klaus replied.

“That’s not up for you to decide.” Caroline told him. “You’ve been trying to get me to truly see you, and now that I finally have begun to see you, you are going to leave.”

“Like I said, don’t take it personally.” Klaus said and hung up.

“Klaus!” Caroline growled but it was too late. “Uggh.”

“Well if you are going to act like that about clean up, you might as well go too.” Rebekah teased, a small smile on your face.

“It’s just your stupid brother.” Caroline complained.

“Well I could have told you Nik was stupid ages ago.” Rebekah joked and the girls shared a smile.

“Where’s Matt?” Caroline asked Rebekah.

“Bailed.” She responded. “Got called into work at the last minute.”

“So, it’s just us?” Caroline asked, opening the big garbage bin for Rebekah.

“Yes, unless you want to call Bonnie and Elena here.” Rebekah told her.

“Bonnie didn’t answer any of my calls this morning, and after everything, I think she deserves a day to sleep in.” Caroline told her. “And Elena…I just don’t want to push her.”

“I get it.” Rebekah said as they continued to clean up. “First my brother and then Alaric…I will give her all the time she needs.”

“Do you need any time?” Caroline asked and Rebekah froze.

“What do you mean?” She asked the younger vampire.

“I’m trying to say that I am sorry about your mom.” Caroline told her. “I mean, I know you hated her and everything, but she was still your mom.”

“Sorry about your teacher.” Rebekah replied, caring about others feelings was still something she was trying to grasp. “He seemed like a nice guy.”

“Yeah.” Caroline agreed. “He was.”

“I’m going to go get started on the gym.” Rebekah told her.

“Yeah, okay, I will finish up here.” Caroline agreed.

Rebekah nodded, setting her little garbage can down, and walking towards the exit of the cafeteria. When she got to the doors, she stopped and turned around.

“Oh, and, Caroline.” Rebekah called.

“Yeah?” The blonde asked, picking up the garbage can.

“She stopped being my mother the second she used the guy I liked as her own personal puppet to kill my older brother.” Rebekah spoke in an even tone and left the room.

Caroline nodded, even though Rebekah could not see her, and picked up a few things when suddenly noise caught her ears.

 _‘You’re supposed to be dead?’_ She heard Rebekah ask.

 _‘I am.’_ She heard the very distinct voice of Alaric.

When she heard a gasp of pain from the original, Caroline dropped what she was holding and sped to Rebekah’s aid. She held Alaric back and Rebekah stabbed him in the heart with the white oak stake. Alaric groaned in pain, but did not turn grey like a normal original would. The girls exchanged nervous glances and sped away.

“He’s going to come after me.” Caroline told her as they briefly stopped at the front of the school. “Go get help.”

With no time to argue, Rebekah simply nodded and the two went their separate ways. Rebekah watched in horror as Alaric came up behind Caroline and snapped her neck. What really frightened her was when he dragged the blonde back to the school, he did not burst into flames. All it did was make it seem like he had a bad sunburn and smoke came off his back.

Knowing she could not help Caroline any further by herself, she set out to do what Caroline asked of her. She had to go get help.

—

Elena lifted the old white sheet, letting it drape over the couch in Alaric’s old room. She still had yet to process everything that had happed these last few weeks. So she decided to get to work on the room. Now, painting Alaric’s room could be hazardous to the baby with all the fumes, but she could still prep the room.

“Alright, Jer, you can start.” Elena called to her brother.

“Remind me why you aren’t helping me?” Jeremy asked as he entered the room.

“It’s complicated, okay?” Elena snapped before sighing. “I’m sorry, Jer, I promise I will explain everything tonight at dinner.”

“I understand.” Jeremy told her, looking at her in sympathy, holding out the paint stick with the color that he was going to be painting the room for her.

Elena internally growled and stalked out of the room, taking the paint stick from him as she passed. When she got into the kitchen, she began to make herself a sandwich, complaining in her head.

She understood that everyone simply cared about her but it wasn’t as if she was going to stop living her life now that her father figure and boyfriend were dead, she had a baby to live for.

“What did that sandwich do to you?” Stefan asked.

Elena sighed and set the knife, she was using to cut her sandwich in half, down. She looked over to Stefan, who was sporting his traditional comforting smile. God, she had missed that smile. When he first came back, it seemed like he was a completely different person. Then she found Finn and left town, and now that she was back, it seemed like Stefan was back to normal. Elena felt like he was going to be such a good friend to her, now that the romantic part of their relationship was over.

“Nothing in particular.” She teased before concentration set in her features. “How are you?”

“Only Elena Gilbert would ask her ex-boyfriend how he was coping with the fact that he killed her best friend.” Stefan chuckled humorlessly.

“Hey, it wasn’t truly you, okay?” Elena said as she added some potato chips to her plate.

“Yeah, but I still did it.” Stefan countered and the two former lovers held eye contact for a solid thirty seconds before Stefan’s eyes dropped to the paint stick. “Going darker, huh?”

“It was all I could find in the basement.” Elena replied, allowing him to change the topic, just because she was tired of everyone’s sympathy did not mean she was over what had happened.

“That’s what happens when you decide to paint your dead guardian’s room in the middle of the night.” Jeremy said from the stairs, causing the two people to turn to face him. “I forgot a putty knife for the windows.” He explained, holding up the tool he had been looking for.

“I don’t supposed anyone tried to talk you guys out of doing this…so soon.” Stefan proceeded carefully.

“Well, we have to keep moving, or we will start thinking and I…I don’t want to think right now.” Elena told him, looking down at her sandwich, and Stefan nodded.

“What are you even doing here?” Jeremy asked Stefan, leaning back against the wall.

“I came to see how you guys were doing after, uh…after everything.” Stefan explained. “You want a hand?” He asked Jeremy.

“We’re fine.” Jeremy said shortly. “But, if you are trying to be the good guy again, why don’t you do the right thing and give us one day. Just one day without vampires in it, do you think you can manage to do that?”

Jeremy stood up and walked upstairs, leaving Elena and Stefan in awkward silence. Elena’s stomach broke the silence by growling, causing the brunette to pick up her sandwich.

“He didn’t mean that.” Elena said before taking a big bite of her sandwich.

“Yeah…” Stefan started, looking up to where the younger Gilbert disappeared. “Yeah, he did. Why aren’t you mad at me?”

Elena shrugged her shoulders, setting down her sandwich, swallowing the bite she had been eating.

“I guess, spending a month with someone who had eternity teaches you to be grateful for being alive.” Elena told him. “And I just have this one, short, human life, and it is far too short to remain angry at you for something you had no control over.”

Stefan nodded at her answer, he opened his mouth to respond, but the doorbell cut him off. He smiled softly at Elena and began to leave the kitchen.

“I’ll get that.” He told her and Elena nodded.

Stefan walked to the front door and he opened it up, his eyes widened as he saw Damon holding a bleeding Bonnie Bennett. Damon was still in his clothes from last night, and Bonnie was in a silk robe that tied at her waist, preventing Stefan from seeing anything that he would feel uncomfortable seeing.

“We have a problem.” Damon told him.

—

“Alaric Saltzman just tried to kill me!” Rebekah said in outrage and fear.

“Alaric Saltzman is supposed to be dead.” Klaus reminded her as he put a painting in the box, before slapping his younger brother’s hand. “Don’t touch that, it is worth 1 billion dollars.”

Kol rolled his eyes and took a seat next to Elijah, who had long since given up trying to help Klaus pack. His younger brother was dead set in leaving, but Elijah was not so sure. For he would definitely not be leaving until he was sure Elena was okay…among other things, but he was not going to tell his family about that just yet.

“Well, he’s not!” Rebekah told him, rolling her eyes. “And because of Esther’s spell, he is now a vampire. With a white oak stake that can’t kill him, trust me, Caroline and I tried.” This froze Klaus’ actions, and Rebekah could tell he was now paying attention to what she was saying. “He’s strong, Nik. Too strong.”

“Where is he now?” Elijah asked his baby sister.

“Stuck at the school, without a daylight ring, but as soon as night falls, he’ll come after us.” Rebekah told him.

“Does that mean we should leave right now?” Kol asked, realizing his sister was not joking.

“Yes, it does.” Klaus answered for Rebekah. “I will stop over to get Elena, and we will be on our way.”

“Elena?” Elijah questioned. “Tell me you are not trying to make more hybrids.”

“No, of course not.” Klaus said as he glared at his big brother. “However, I owe it to our brother to ask her to come with us. I doubt turning Alaric into a vampire is her last assault on our family, and I want to make sure she is safe.”

“Of course,” Elijah nodded. “and then we will run together?”

“Always and Forever.” Klaus confirmed, nodding.

“There’s one other thing,” Rebekah began, unsure of how to tell her brother about Caroline. “I was sent here to get help.”

“What do you mean, sister?” Kol asked, sitting up from his hunched position against the couch.

“I was able to escape from the school because Alaric went after someone else.” Rebekah told them.

“But the only people at the school today were Caroline, Matt, and you.” Kol responded, confusion lacing his features, and he sat back in the chair. “And I saw Matt at the grill before I came here, so that means he had to have taken…”

“Caroline.” Klaus growled in anger, and a hint of fear if one listened close enough. “If you will excuse me, I have a history teacher to murder.”

“Weren’t you just listening to me?” Rebekah spoke up, turning to leave, needing more assistance. “Caroline and I already tried to kill him with a white oak stake, it didn’t work.”

“She’s right Nik.” Kol teased and followed Rebekah.

Klaus sighed irritably and followed Elijah who was following Rebekah and Kol. Tyler, who was carrying a box of stuff, furrowed his eyebrows as the oldest family in the world walked towards him.

“Move it, sire boy.” Rebekah growled, pushing past him.

“What’s her deal?” Tyler asked Klaus.

“Nothing that is of any concern to you.” Klaus said, stopping by Tyler, as Elijah and Kol followed Rebekah. “Listen mate, I need to step out for a minute, you will finish packing up the rest of it by yourself, including my brother’s room, make sure Elena gets the boxes.”

Klaus watched as anger flashed in Tyler’s eyes, he knew the boy was no longer sired to him, but if the Lockwood wolf thought he could pull a fast one on him, let him try. The original hybrid grinned mockingly at him and left the house, catching up to his siblings.

“Okay, since the white oak stake clearly doesn’t work, we need a plan B, any one have any ideas?” Elijah questioned.

The family walked in silence for a moment, thinking of ways to get Caroline back. Suddenly Kol sped up to catch up with his siblings, a smirk on his face.

“I got something.” He told them.

“Well?” Klaus asked tensely.

“Anybody heard from Bonnie Bennett?” Kol asked.

—

“What do you mean he turned?” Stefan asked Damon, handing Bonnie a towel. “I thought you were standing guard.”

“Don’t blame me!” Damon snapped. “Blame Bonnie the Blood Bank. She fed him.”

“I had no idea what was happening.” Bonnie all but growled at Damon. “Okay, I went to bed, and when I woke up, the witches led me there. I’m surprised that I even had enough control of my mind to grab hi-my robe. They wanted him to feed so he’d turn.”

“So, where’s the stake now?” Stefan asked.

“Oh, you mean the white oak one?” Damon asked sarcastically. “The one that can kill an original and wipe out an entire line of vampires? We don’t know.”

“If you are so upset with me, why did you feed your blood to save my life?” Bonnie growled back.

“Because I do stupid things, Bonnie.” Damon snapped back. “I do things, like let my friend die with dignity when I should have just killed him.”

Everyone was silent for a minute, but before they could start talking again, Elena walked into the room.

“Here.” Elena smiled softly, handing her clothes, to which Bonnie accepted with a small smile.

“Thanks.” Bonnie told her.

“You sure you didn’t see who attacked you?” Elena asked.

“I don’t know, I think it very well could have been one of Klaus’ hybrids. They are all pissed at him, so maybe they thought they could be take it out on us.” Bonnie lied evenly, due to her raging emotions, Elena bought it, nodding her head.

“Well, I’m going to try calling Caroline, if there is anyone who can get Klaus to talk to his hybrids and give them a little bit more freedom, it is her.” Elena told them and left the room.

“I feel bad about lying to her.” Bonnie voiced her opinions.

“Yeah, well, we need to figure out how we are going to kill him now.” Stefan grumbled. “I want to try and do this without having to tell her anything. I want her last memory of Alaric be that of him hugging her goodbye.”

“You have a point.” Damon muttered.

“Well, I do know that a witch cannot truly make an immortal creature. So, there has to be some way to kill him, some sort of way to undo a spell. We find that, we finally let Alaric die and find peace.” Bonnie told them.

“So?” Damon asked, walking back to the table. “What’s the witchy work around?”

“That’s the problem.” Bonnie muttered. “I don’t know.”

“You spent almost a month scouring every grimoire your family owned, you had to have found something?” Stefan asked.

“I know.” Bonnie told them. “I just need some time to think.”

“Well tick tock, Bon-Bon, because we only have until sunset and then it is all free game for Ric.” Damon grumbled.

—

Elena sat in her bedroom, researching all she could on her pregnancy, recording everything she deemed helpful in her green journal. Her phone rang and she sighed, reaching over and grabbed it. Elena’s heart dropped to her stomach when she saw who’s name was on the phone.

“Whoever this is, it’s not funny.” Elena said, her tone was guarded, she didn’t not want to give whoever this was the satisfaction of making her cry, again.

“Who else would it be?” Her guardian’s voice came through the phone.

“Ric?” Elena asked carefully.

“Listen closely, I am at the school. I have Caroline. And if you want to keep her alive, I need you to get in your car and come down here right away.” Alaric instructed. “If you tell anyone where you are going, I am going to kill her.”

Elena jumped slightly when the line died, she did not hesitate to close out of the tabs on her computer and shove her diary under her bed. She moved softly across her room to where she kept her car keys, placing both hands over them, making sure they did not jingle when she picked them up.

She realized that going down the stairs was not an option, unless she wanted to yell to Damon and Stefan that she was leaving. Elena looked over to her window and sighed, after today she was going to try and not do anything like this anymore, for her child’s sake.

Elena slowly opened her window, wincing at the light squeak. She pulled herself onto the tall oak tree that was outside her window. Elena hugged the branch she was on, the last time she had done this was when she was sixteen and she was going out with Bonnie and Caroline to see a rated r movie that her parents said she could not watch. With a deep breath she began her decent down to the ground. When she got to her car, she slowly opened the door and put the car in neutral. With much difficulty, she got her car down the block, before she climbed in and started the car, driving the rest of the way to the school.

—

Jeremy came downstairs after finishing with the first coat of paint, he needed to let it dry before he continued. It did not help that it was the only thing he could do as they worked to take down Alaric. He almost didn’t believe Bonnie when she told him, but then she showed him her slowly healing neck.

Jeremy agreed with her when it came to telling Elena, after everything that had happened these past few months, he did not want to cause her any more pain. Jeremy paused when he heard the doorbell ring. He sighed and walked back, opening the door, he jumped back a little at the sight of the Kol, Klaus, and Rebekah at his door.

“God, that’s gonna take some getting used to.” Jeremy muttered, placing his hand over his heart. “What the hell do you all want?”

“Now is that any way to treat your guests.” Klaus teased.

“Yeah, well, sorry it’s been a long day.” Jeremy apologized sarcastically, causing Klaus to scowl and Kol to grin.

“You’ve been spending too much time with my brother.” Klaus muttered.

“What are you doing here Klaus?” Stefan asked coming to the door.

“Looking for a young Bennett witch, you wouldn’t happened to have seen her, would you?” Klaus asked.

“Why?” Jeremy asked.

“My mother’s little creation has something of great value to me, and I need the witch’s help to find her.” Klaus explained.

“Jeremy, go upstairs.” Stefan told him.

“Now.” Damon commanded, causing the younger Gilbert to go upstairs with a roll of his eyes.

“Then I’m leaving town, so I stopped by to collect some necessities…flashlight, spare tire…doppelgänger…” Klaus continued after Jeremy had left.

“Can’t help you there, sorry.” Damon replied, shutting the door in his face.

“Why must you always do that?” Rebekah sighed irritably. “Hopefully Elijah is having better luck.”

—

“Elena?” Stefan called as him and Damon raced up the stairs.

“Where is she?” Damon asked as they came in Alaric’s old room.

“Uh, she was here a few minutes ago, but didn’t stay long, for some reason she does not want to be in the same room as the paint.” Jeremy told them. “Why?”

“Elena?” Damon called and all three of them came in her room to find Elijah standing in the center of it. “I forgot you can get in here.” Damon groaned.

“Where is she?” Elijah asked calmly.

“Elena?” Damon asked and breathed in, he smirked. “Or Bonnie?”

Elijah let his eyes scan around the room, looking for anything that could help him figure out what was going on. His gaze stopped on Elena’s computer, walking over He placed his hand on the lid, furrowing his eyebrows.

“What is it?” Stefan asked, curiously, he didn’t have time to deal with Damon right now.

“It’s still warm.” Elijah muttered, before looking up at the rest of them. “She hasn’t been gone long.”

“What’s going on?” Bonnie asked, now wearing Elena’s clothes, the robe she had been wearing before tucked around her arm.

“Elena’s gone, and Alaric has Caroline.” Elijah said, walking over by her. “We need all the help we can get.” He said and looked over at Jeremy, who nodded.

“Klaus, Kol, Rebekah…” Jeremy started, knowing the vampires could hear him.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Damon asked, outraged.

“Alaric already has Caroline and my sister is missing, we need their help Damon, and I am not going to let your damn pride be the reason we don’t save one, or both, of them.” Jeremy snapped. “Rebekah, Klaus, Kol, you can come in.”

—

Elena walked through the empty halls of the school, peaking in classrooms, looking for Caroline. Suddenly she heard whimpering, and she took off in that direction. Coming to a stop in the doorway of Alaric’s classroom. Alaric sat back, twirling the white oak stake around with his fingers. Elena gasped at Caroline’s situation, she had pencils in both her hands and a gag in her mouth. From the red skin at her mouth, Elena had to guess that the gag was soaked in vervain.

“Caroline!” She cried softly, causing her friend’s tear filled eyes to lock on hers. “Let her go, Alaric.”

“Free her yourself.” Alaric dared her.

Elena held eye contact with her guardian for a second, looking for any signs of a lie. Finally she just rushed to her friend’s side.

“Hey.” She told Caroline, soothingly. “It’s all going to be okay.”

Elena grimaced as she slowly began to pull the pencil out of Caroline’s right hand, trying to block out her friend’s, pain filled, sobs. Caroline screamed the best she could with the gag in her mouth when Alaric slammed the pencil back down.

“You said that you would let her go!” Elena cried, outraged.

“How many times do I have to tell you, Elena?” Alaric reprimanded. “Stop trusting vampires!” He yelled at her.

—

“Her car is gone.” Kol observed, looking out the window.

“Why wouldn’t she tell anyone where she was going?” Bonnie asked. “And how the hell did neither of you hear her car?”

“She must have pushed her car down the road.” Elijah told them.

“Why would she put herself through so much stress it’s dangerous for the…stability of her mental health?” Bonnie corrected and, thankfully, no one noticed.

“Okay, so we have to figure out where she went and why she didn’t tell anyone.” Jeremy said.

Stefan’s phone started ringing, and his eyes widened slightly at the caller ID. He got everyone’s attention by waving his hand, and answered the phone, putting it on speaker.

“Alaric.” He greeted nervously.

“Hello, Stefan.” The former history teacher greeted, but his tone sent chills down Bonnie’s spine. “I want you to listen to me and listen to me good. I have Elena and Caroline and I will kill them both unless you can give me Klaus, then I will let them live. We are at the high school. You have until sundown.”

Alaric hung up the phone, not bothering to check if Stefan heard him. Stefan knew that Alaric knew he had gotten his message across and they would come.

“That is a suicide plan.” Klaus growled.

“Normally we would let you do it too, but there is a one and four chance that we die too, and even though I am good with those odds, Stefan’s not.” Damon said in his usual tone that pissed Klaus off.

“And a hundred percent chance that Tyler dies.” Stefan added.

“Good with that too.” Damon pointed out.

“Enough.” Elijah growled in a controlled tone. “All this arguing is not going to save Elena and Caroline. So, can we please just find a way to take Alaric down and bring them home safely.”

Everyone nodded and soon began to think of ideas. Bonnie and Rebekah talked in the corner, figuring they would get more done by working together, since the guys were probably going to get into another fight.

“Okay, how about this?” Klaus spoke up. “Damon sneaks in and distracts Alaric, while one of us sneaks in and gets them to safety.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea.” Damon agreed sarcastically. “What’s to stop me from being killed instantly?”

“Nothing.” Klaus grinned.

“Caroline’s in there. Don’t you have a a thing for her,” Damon reminded him, trying to piss off Klaus as much as he was pissing off him, and it worked because the hybrid’s smile fell from his face. “or did she just reject you too many times?”

Klaus sped forward, slamming Damon into the wall, knocking a few pictures from the wall, that Kol caught, thankfully. The original sighed, knowing it was best to just let this all play out, and walked over to talk with Bonnie and Rebekah.

“Don’t speak of things you know nothing of.” Klaus growled and Damon smirked.

“Ooh, have I hit a nerve?” Damon asked, mockingly.

“That is quite enough from both of you.” Elijah reprimanded, feeling like a broken record. “This is not helping us at all.”

“I may have something.” Bonnie spoke up. “My mom used a desiccation spell on Mikael that immobilized him for over fifteen years. We were thinking, if I can get it, I might be able to use that spell on Alaric.”

“If and might, your words are not really inspiring me all that much.” Klaus told her.

“I’ll get it.” Bonnie told him. “But even with the spell, we’ll need a lot of vampire muscle to take him down. Including you two.” Bonnie said, glaring at Damon and Klaus.

“Got it.” Damon said, before looking at his brother. “I need to take care of something, meet you at the school?”

“I guess, I will go inform Meredith of what happened to her boyfriend.” Stefan said.

Both brothers left the house, leaving the originals with Bonnie and Jeremy. Klaus waited until he heard both Salvatore brothers’ cars drive away before he spoke again.

“The sun sets in about eight hours.” Klaus told them all. “We need to save them, I vowed to Finn that I would protect Elena, and I am doing a horrible job so far.”

“Hey, we will rescue them, Nik.” Rebekah told him, resting her hand on his arm. “You’ve just started to care for others, I am not letting Frankenstein’s monster ruin that now. How long will it take to get the spell?” She asked Bonnie.

“If I leave now, hopefully, not long.” Bonnie told her, turning to leave.

“I’ll go with you.” Elijah said and Bonnie nodded her head in agreement.

“Be careful you two.” Rebekah told them. “Who knows what else Esther had up her sleeve.”

“Always.” Elijah told his baby sister. “We will be back before you can say ‘Vervain’.”

The two of them walked out, and Rebekah waited until she knew they were gone, before she turned to her brothers and Jeremy.

“Was that Elijah’s robe Bonnie had tucked under her arm?” She asked, causing everyone’s eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

—

“No more.” Caroline cried. “Please, no more.”

“Alaric, stop!” Elena yelled, desperately.

“Sit down!” Alaric snapped and shoved her down.

He was so focused on Caroline that he didn’t even see Elena protectively clutch her stomach when she fell back into the seat.

“This keeps the vervain in her system.” Alaric told her. “It’s like inhaling razor blades with every breath.

Elena reached forward to sooth Caroline when she began to scream and cry from the gag.

“Why are you doing this?” Elena asked.

“To make it easier on you when you put her out of her misery.” Alaric answered.

“What?” Elena asked, horrified. “No!”

“Isn’t this what you wanted, Elena?” He asked, mockingly. “For me to teach you how to kill a vampire? Well, here’s a vampire, Elena.” He held the white oak stake to her. “Kill her.”

“This isn’t what I want.” Elena all but growled, glaring at her guardian.

“Of course it is.” Alaric told her. “All those hours you spent training, getting stronger…you could be a hunter, Elena. But you’ve never actually staked a vampire through the heart, you’ve only ever befriended them or fell in love with them.”

“Don’t you dare mention Finn.” Elena growled.

“Why?” Alaric asked. “Because of you he turned his back on doing the right thing, and look where it got him.” Elena glared at him, but Alaric could see the pain behind it. “Now it is time you honor him and do the right thing by ridding the world of vampires. Starting with her.” He said, looking over at Caroline.

“You’re wrong.” Elena told him, shaking her head. “Finn did do the right thing, he realized that no matter how miserable it would make him, he would not kill millions. He knew the risks, and he still took them, because he knew Esther’s plan was wrong. And if I want to honor him, I will not kill an innocent life.”

“She is hardly innocent, Elena.” Alaric growled. “She told me that she’s killed before, and liked it.”

“I. Am. Not. Killing. My. Friend.” Elena spat out.

“We’ll see about that.” Alaric told her.

—

Bonnie paced throughout the Salvatore living room, tapping her phone in her hand. Elijah smiled softly as he sat on the couch, looking over at the clock when it chimed noon.

“Bonnie.” Elijah called to her.

“Abby will be here.” Bonnie told him nervously. “Jamie said she would come.”

“Bonnie.” Elijah spoke again, this time she turned to face him.

He stood up and sat on the coffee table, extending his arms. Bonnie sighed and walked over to him, the tension leaving her body for the most part when he let his hands rest at her waist.

“I do not doubt that Abby will come.” Elijah told her softly. “However, if she does not come within the next hour, we will need to come up with a plan B.”

“I know.” Bonnie replied, shutting her eyes briefly, before opening them. “It’s just what if she is planning something, huh? I mean she worked with your mother to try and kill you all.”

“She was just trying to do what she thought was right.” Elijah told her.

“You’re not mad at her?” Bonnie asked.

“Oh, believe me, I am furious.” Elijah told her, pulling her to sit on his lap. “However, she is your mother, and if she is truly sorry, then I will try to forgive her.”

Bonnie nodded and she pressed her lips softly to his. During the time that the others were away, Elijah had been the only person she had seen on a regular basis. It began as a distraction so that way they would not think about the danger their friends and family were in.

Then everyone came home and it was a matter of wanting to forget what happened to Elijah’s older brother. Now, Bonnie had begun to think that they were on their way to having an actual relationship, and not a string of hookups to forget something. 

Although, she was glad that she was on the pill now more than ever, for the prophecy about the Mikaelsons had begun. And, although she admired Elena for how well she was accepting the fact that she was going to be a mother at eighteen, Bonnie was not ready to be a mom. She had enough problems with her own mother. It wasn’t like she could just ask Elijah to start wearing protection, when vampires shouldn’t be able to procreate. That would make him suspicious and start looking into things, and Bonnie promised Elena that she would not tell anyone about the baby. So, for now she had to trust that the pill was enough protection and that Elijah was not one of the Mikaelson’s that was destined for parenthood. 

On top of all of that, she had no idea how to tell Elena, since she just lost Finn, and Bonnie was running around with his younger brother.

They pulled away as the doorbell rang, and Bonnie raced to the door. When she opened it, she let out a breath of relief at the sight of her mother.

“Hello, Bonnie.” Her mother greeted awkwardly.

“Thanks for coming.” Bonnie said.

“Jamie’s worried about you, he hasn’t heard from you in over a month until today, saying you wanted to see me because it was urgent.” Abby told her.

“We both know the reason why I wasn’t talking to anyone for the past month.” Bonnie told Abby, who nodded.

“I just didn’t think you’d ever want to see me again after…” Abby trailed off.

“Like Jaime said…It’s urgent.” Bonnie told her moving aside, allowing Abby to come in.

The older Bennett woman froze at the sight of Elijah sitting on the coffee table. The original gave her a small smile and only Bonnie could see the anger that hide beneath it. So, she quickly went over by him and sat on the couch, grabbing his hand. This was going to be a long day.

—

Klaus pulled up to the school, he had only begun to put the car in park, when Kol had the door open to get out. The hybrid rolled his eyes at his younger brother’s actions, it amused him how much time it was taking Kol to get used to modern day automobiles.

“Abby just showed up.” Rebekah told him, and Klaus nodded.

“Good.” He said. “Maybe this plan won’t be an epic failure after all.”

“Could you quite it with the sardonic humor, Nik?” Rebekah snapped. “I just began to make friends with these girls and I will not have your cynical wittiness getting in the way of that.”

“For once I agree with Rebekah.” Stefan said as he got out of his car, and Klaus smirked.

“You know, if we do pull this off and drop the history teacher in the Atlantic, I am still going to be leaving with Elena.” Klaus told him.

“I’ll go with you.” Stefan told him, shocking all three originals.

“Really?” Klaus asked. “Why? You know she will never truly be over my brother.”

“I know, but she is human and she is grieving, I just want to make sure she is safe.” Stefan told Klaus.

“That is what makes you the better choice, if she was still playing your silly little game of course.” Klaus told him.

“Enough.” Rebekah groaned. “Us women don’t just wait around for guys to win us as some sort of prize. So do me a favor and stop treating this as a game show, otherwise I will stick you both in the pacific ocean…I’ve heard it’s colder.”

Rebekah turned and walked over to a bench, and Kol smiled. If this was the way his family was going to be like from now on, he would gladly stick around.

—

“We called you here because I need help with a spell.” Bonnie informed Abby, still holding Elijah’s hand. “Esther created a vampire that can’t be killed. I want to desiccate him like you did to Mikael.”

“Bonnie…It’s too dangerous. Your magic comes from the Earth. It’s pure. This spell asks you to tap into dark places…Places of temptation. Places you can’t handle.” Abby told her.

“You turned your back on me for sixteen years.” Bonnie fired back. “You have no idea what I am capable of.”

“She is one of the strongest witches I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I knew a very powerful witch by the name of Céleste Dubois.” Elijah stated, causing Abby to look at him.

“Was this your idea?” Abby asked in anger and disgust.

“No, it was mine.” Bonnie snapped back, standing up and walking over to her mother. “Don’t forget you helped kill his brother. You are lucky we’re desperate, otherwise I would never want to see you again.”

“This spell, Bonnie,” Abby began awkwardly, but Bonnie could hear the anger hidden in her tone. “allows you to stop a vampire’s heart. The blood will stop flowing and his body will desiccate.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that is what we want to do.” Bonnie told her.

“To stop a vampire's heart, you need to find a balance among the living. Can you handle that?” Abby challenged.

Bonnie stared at her and Elijah wished he would have payed more attention to his mother, or even Céleste, then he would know what they are talking about. Even though he already had a pretty good idea of what they were talking about.

“Bonnie, please don’t tell me that she is talking about what I think she is talking about?” Elijah asked, staring at the young woman.

“I have to stop a human heart.” Bonnie told him, confirming his suspicions. “Thank you.” She told Abby.

“You’re welcome.” Abby told them, before turning to Elijah. “For what it is worth, I am sorry about your brother.”

Elijah nodded, uncomfortably, before turning to Bonnie.

“I am going to start the car.” He told her as he stood up, brushing his hands against his pants legs, smoothing the crinkles out of them.

“Thank you again.” Bonnie told Abby.

“You are welcome, Bonnie.” Abby spoke softly. “I truly am sorry, so if you need help on anything else, all you have to do is call.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Bonnie said. “If you’ll excuse me…”

She walked past Abby, leaving the older witch standing in the living room alone.

—

“I just got this.” Bonnie told Elijah as they walked towards the others. “It connects me to Caroline and Elena through our phones.”

Bonnie showed it to him, and clicked on Caroline’s name. It showed them an aerial view of the school, showing exactly where her friends were.

“They’re in Alaric’s classroom.” Bonnie informed him. “You guys should go in through the south entrance.”

“Digital locator spell. Why the hell do we need you then?” Damon walked up to the two of them, earning a glare from the witch and the original vampire. “Hand it over.”

“I’m not giving you my ring.” Jeremy told him. “Let me do this.” He told Bonnie.

“By my math, you’ve already bit it once, possibly twice, wearing that ring, and if for some reason Bonnie can’t restore your heart and you do indeed die, then before you know it, we have another psycho alter ego case on our hands.” Damon told the younger Gilbert. “Which is bad. So, give me the ring.”

“This is my ring, Elena’s my sister.” Jeremy told him. “No one is going to fight harder for her than me.”

“Fine.” Damon grumbled. “Be stubborn. Try not to kill him, will you.” He mocked Bonnie.

“You are treading on thin ice, Damon, I’d be careful where you step next.” Elijah growled so quietly that only Damon heard it.

“Aw, is someone standing up for his wittle gwrlfriend.” Damon teased in an equally soft tone.

“Look at this.” Klaus called as Stefan and the rest of the originals walked over. “One big happy family.”

Klaus studied Elijah’s face, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion when he saw the tension in his brother’s face. He vowed to get to the end of it when they had rescued Caroline and Elena.

“Drink this.” Bonnie told them, a small smile on her face. “It’s my blood. It bridges us all together so that when I stop Jeremy’s heart, you’ll have the power to stop Alaric’s. You need to make a physical connection to his bloodstream—a vein, an artery, something connected to his heart.”

Damon took a small sip of the blood before passing it off to Elijah.

“If one of us gets a clear shot, take it, the others will hold him down.” Stefan said as he took the vial from Elijah.

“Before we all walk through these doors, let’s get on the same page, shall we?” Klaus told them. “I was the one who created your vampire bloodline, therefore I am responsible for your lives, and Tyler’s life, and Caroline’s life, should anything go wrong.”

“You really gotta stop with the threats, Nik,” Kol said as he took a sip of the vial. “no wonder no one likes you.”

“Let’s just get this over with, you’re all giving me a headache.” Rebekah complained, finishing off the vial of blood.

All of the men nodded and followed Rebekah into the school, leaving Bonnie and Jeremy to look at each other with a hint of amusement in their faces.

—

“Why are you doing this?” Elena asked angrily.

“Because you need me.” Alaric stated simply. “Because you’re an eighteen year old girl without parents or guidance or any sense of right and wrong anymore.”

“Look at you.” Elena countered. “How is this right?”

“We’ve already discussed her love of killing.” Alaric told her. “Now how is that right? See, Elena…Your parents led the council. It was their life’s mission to keep this town safe. They weren’t dead six months and you undid it all.”

“You don’t know anything about them.” Elena told him.

“Why, am I wrong?” Alaric countered. “Do you actually think…that they would be proud of you. If you don’t side with the humans…you’re just as bad as them.”

“That’s not a terrible side to be on.” A voice called from the doorframe.

Elena sighed in relief at the sight of the youngest male Mikaelson. Alaric stood up slowly, gripping the stake tightly in his hand. Kol looked down at it and then over at Elena, conveying a silent message to her, before looking back at Alaric.

The youngest Petrova Doppelgänger looked down at the desk next to Caroline, slowly she grabbed the beaker of Vervain and threw it at Alaric. He was so distracted by Kol that he didn’t even notice it until it broke on his face. Kol took the opportunity to lunge forward, kicking the white oak stake from his hand. As the two vampires fought, Elena pulled the pencils from Caroline’s hand, and yanked the gag from her mouth.

“Go!” Kol yelled at both the girls, who took off without a second thought. “You think you can beat me?” He teased Alaric. “You have had a day as an original…well, darling, I’ve been doing it for centuries.”

The nickname seemed to work in Kol’s favor, because the older man growled, charging at Kol. The original used the momentum to slam the history teacher’s head through the brick wall. Not waiting to see how long it would take for him to recover, Kol flashed from the room.

—

Caroline and Elena got to a different hallway, the blonde turned around to see if Alaric was following them. Elena jumped when Caroline got yanked away from her, and she felt a weight on her shoulder. Immediately Caroline began to freak out, ready to scream.

“Sh, sh, sh.” Klaus told her, his hand covering her mouth. “It’s okay, you’re okay. It’s me, you’re safe.”

Elena relaxed at the sight of Klaus with her friend and turned to see Elijah there. She hugged original, and she almost laughed at how he tensed up.

“Thank you.” She told Elijah.

“You’re family now, always and forever.” He told her, and Elena let the guilt swell in her for a second at the thought of her keeping his blood niece or nephew a secret from him.

“You stayed?” Caroline asked in amazement and Klaus smiled softly.

“Yes, well, I couldn’t leave while knowing that the woman who was able to beat me in a paint by numbers competition was in mortal danger.” Klaus teased, but it quickly left his tone. “You two listen to me, go to Caroline’s house, stay inside, and don’t answer the door unless it is someone from my family or Bonnie and Jeremy. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Elena told him.

“You better go.” Kol said as he sped up to them. “I don’t know how long he is going to be out.”

“Listen, there is something about Alaric.” Elena told the Mikaelsons. “No matter how much I pissed him off in there, he wouldn’t kill me.”

“Could be nothing.” Kol commented.

“Could be everything.” Elijah countered before turning to Elena. “Thank you.”

“Just try to make it quick.” Elena told him, knowing that her father figure was still in there somewhere.

“Of course.” Elijah told her.

“Thank you.” Caroline told Klaus in awe. 

The hybrid nodded and disappeared with his brothers. The two women nodded and ran as fast as humanly possible from the school to Elena’s car. She stopped when they reached her car and she looked back at the school.

“Elena!” Caroline called. “Come on.”

“I can’t leave them.” Elena told her.

“They will be fine.” Caroline told her.

“I’m sorry.” She told Caroline. “I just know he won’t kill me, and I won’t let anyone else die because of me.”

“Elena none of what is happening now is your fault. Finn. Alaric. None of this is your fault.” Caroline told her.

“I know, but I can’t leave knowing I could have done more to help.” Elena told her.

“Promise me you will be safe.” Caroline told her, knowing her friend was far too stubborn to be talked out of her plan. 

“I promise.” Elena told her. “Now go.”

Caroline nodded and got in Elena’s car and threw the car into reverse and sped out of the parking lot.

She was not sure if she even breathed until she was safe in her basement, where there were no windows. 

—

Alaric growled as he shook plaster from his hair. He looked down the hallway for the original who slammed his head through a wall. 

“Looking for someone?” Rebekah asked.

Alaric sped towards her, white oak stake in hand, ready to kill her. The blonde put up a very good fight, but eventually she got tired, as she felt her neck snap she could only pray her brothers were near by. Alaric held up the stake, ready to finish his job, but then he heard something. Alaric turned around only for the two Salvatores to grab his arms.

“Do it now!” Damon yelled.

Alaric threw Damon into the lockers and turned around, breaking Stefan’s back. Damon lept forward, but Alaric sped around him, and broke his neck. Klaus sped forward, pressing his hand to Alaric’s chest, causing the history teacher to cry out in pain. Elijah and Kol sped forward, holding Alaric’s arms like the Salvatores had been not too long ago.

The history teacher grabbed Elijah’s hand and twisted it to an unnatural direction, using the distraction to snap the eldest Mikaelson’s neck. He then threw him into his brothers, breaking the connection that had been forming. Kol lept up first and sped towards Alaric, but the teacher snapped his neck.

Alaric went over to Klaus, who saw starting to get up, and threw him into the row of lockers. The hybrid tried to get up again, but Alaric knocked him onto his back. Alaric wasted no time trying to kill Klaus, and he swung the stake down towards his heart. Klaus’ eyes widened and he threw his hands up, wrapping them around Alaric’s wrists to prevent the stake from reaching its destination.

“Stop!” Elena yelled. “Let him go, or I’ll kill myself.”

She stood by all of the originals’ and Salvatores’ unconscious bodies, a knife pressed against her throat. Elena really hoped he didn’t call her bluff, because there was no way that she was going to kill her child.

“Put it down, Elena.” Alaric told her, seemingly unaffected by her threat, while Klaus’ eyes were wide with fear…fear for the girl he was beginning to see as family.

“Why?” She challenged. “Because you still need me alive? There’s a reason why Esther used me to make you, isn’t there? She didn’t want you to be immortal, and she knew I would not want to become a vampire now that Finn is gone. So she tied your life to a human one—mine. That way, you only have one lifespan to kill all of the vampires, and then you’ll be gone.”

Klaus had to admit it was a clever plan, and the one that made the most sense. He only hoped she was right, or he was done for, because he felt his arms begin to tremble in weakness.

“So when I die, you die, too.” Elena told him. “That’s it! It has to be.”

“You’re wrong.” Alaric told her confidently, but Elena knew he was bluffing because he hadn’t killed Klaus yet.

“Am I?” Elena asked and the locked eyes with Klaus, trying to tell him she wasn’t going to go through with this, through her eyes.

Elena took a deep breath and gave herself a small cut in a place where she wouldn’t hurt herself.

“Stop, stop, stop, stop!” Alaric cried.

Klaus used this as a distraction and slammed the white oak stake into Alaric’s forehead, knocking the older man back. He did not hesitate to grab Elena and flee the school, knowing his siblings would be home soon. Klaus also knew that Alaric would not go after his siblings, because he would be after him.

“Are you alright?” He asked Elena, examining her neck, as they came to a stop in his living room.

“I’m fine, it’s just a cut.” Elena told him, gently pushing his hands down, taking pleasure in the small amount of time she had before morning sickness would make traveling at a supernatural speed impossible. “Are you?”

Klaus nodded absently, looking around. My things had changed in such a short time for him, for people had actually begun to care for him. Now it was his turn to make sure he was worthy of that affection.

“Alaric’s life is connected to yours, and I know the last thing you want to do now is become a vampire, so my siblings and I will have to run.” Klaus told her before chuckling without humor. “It’s quite ironic, that by my mother attempting to kill us, it has only made our bond stronger.”

“I’m sorry.” Elena told him. “You just got to a good place, and now you have to leave again.”

“Stop saying that.” Klaus told her.

“Stop saying what?” Elena asked.

“That you’re sorry.” Klaus answered. “I have done horrible, horrible, things to you and you still treat me with kindness. Why?”

“I think maybe it is because life is short, and I have the ability to see the best in people, knowing when they are truly capable of change.” Elena answered and Klaus gave a small, sad, smile.

“I see why Finn loved you now.” Klaus told her, and Elena smiled sadly. “Elena, you have my word that every day of your life, I will fight to keep that forgiveness you have so humbly given me.”

Elena grinned at him, and it made Klaus feel like he had won the lottery. The last thousand years had been hell, but he would do it all again if it led him here. A place where he was in good standing with his family, and had gained some more in, Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, and Elena.

His eyebrows furrowed when Elena’s grin left her face.

“What is it?” Klaus asked.

“Call Bonnie.” Elena told him. “I know what I have to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter I changed nothing, so that is why it is so much shorter than my other stories. I promise the other ones will be longer.


End file.
